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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “socket”

wp.org orders by popularity, so a plugin a host bundled onto millions of sites, or a big-brand one that's slow and mediocre, can sit at the top. Our ranking is built to answer a different question: which of these is actually worth installing. How this works →

For “socket”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20.

wp.org search ranks on

Install count (uncapped), the raw star average, freshness, and support. Popularity dominates, so the biggest install base usually wins regardless of how it got there.

We add

A cap on the install boost, volume-weighted ratings, and signals wp.org can't see: whether the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Yac Object Cache shows at wp.org #6 but places #13 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 10+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics places #5 on merit, 3.7★ from 2408 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #1 2 Purge Varnish Cache 1K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #2 3 WP-ServerInfo 10K+ · 4.8★ (17) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528) wp.org #19 ↓1 15 too low 5 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #23 18 too low 6 Redis Object Cache 500K+ · 4.5★ (179) wp.org #24 18 too low 7 Dynamic Copyright Year 800+ · 3.0★ (3) wp.org #5 2 too high 8 Zoho Forms – Drag & Drop Form Builder for Websites – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Order Forms & More 10K+ · 2.7★ (14) wp.org #9 1 too low 9 OPcache Reset 500+ · 4.0★ (1) wp.org #4 ↓1 5 too high 10 PlatiOnline Payments 700+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #10 11 2Way VideoCalls and Random Chat – HTML5 Webcam Videochat 10+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #16 ↓1 5 too low 12 BuildKit – Product Builder for WooCommerce – Custom PC Builder 300+ · 2.8★ (4) wp.org #8 ↓1 4 too high 13 Yac Object Cache 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 7 too high 14 atec Hosting Check 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 ↑1 7 too high 15 MSCache Varnish Purge 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 3 too high 16 Bentostudio Mail 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↓1 2 too high 17 AI Marketing Expert — AI Email Marketing, AI Content Generator, SEO Analyzer, AI Workflow Automation, Social Media & Ai Chatbot 2K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 6 too high 18 Jabali Cache 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 ↓1 3 too high 19 INI Protector 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 ↑4 6 too high 20 Contabilium Oficial para WooCommerce 200+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 ↓1 3 too high 21 DigitalDot Caché Manager for Redis — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↓1 1 too high 22 RTM Font Showcase — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 1 too high 23 FlynCache Purge — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 ↑2 5 too high 24 Buildora – PC Builder for WooCommerce — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 2 too high

Merit ranking caps the install boost at 1M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted Bayesian score and a Wilson lower bound, and keeps wp.org's own freshness and compatibility decays. Method from the plugin-directory source; see Meta Trac #8298. Positions are tracked daily from the first visit to a keyword, so the small arrows show movement since tracking began.