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

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 “soon”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 4 plugins are pushed down for signals wp.org ignores: errors, a host-installed base, or removal risk.

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 it throws errors on current PHP, whether the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Coming Soon Maintenance Mode shows at wp.org #5 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 6K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.7★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner places #12 on merit, 4.7★ from 1668 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 Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4699) wp.org #1 ↑2 2 CMP – Coming Soon & Maintenance Plugin by NiteoThemes 200K+ · 4.7★ (326) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 Minimal Coming Soon – Coming Soon Page 100K+ · 4.3★ (282) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 LightStart – Maintenance Mode, Coming Soon and Landing Page Builder 400K+ · 4.3★ (874) wp.org #4 5 Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode Page & Under Construction 10K+ · 4.8★ (317) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 Maintenance 1M+ · 4.4★ (869) wp.org #7 ↓2 1 too low 7 Maintenance & Coming Soon Redirect Animation 3K+ · 5.0★ (34) wp.org #6 ↑1 1 too high 8 Under Construction 600K+ · 4.8★ (1285) wp.org #15 7 too low 9 Coming soon and Maintenance mode 8K+ · 4.2★ (83) wp.org #10 1 too low 10 Spectra Legacy – Gutenberg Blocks 1M+ · 4.7★ (1872) wp.org #17 7 too low 11 Landing Page Builder – Coming Soon page, Maintenance Mode, Lead Page, WordPress Landing Pages 8K+ · 4.6★ (202) wp.org #18 7 too low 12 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1668) wp.org #23 11 too low 13 Under Construction, Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode 10K+ · 4.6★ (46) wp.org #14 1 too low 14 Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode by Colorlib 5K+ · 4.7★ (42) wp.org #9 5 too high 15 Cart Abandonment Recovery for WooCommerce – Recover Lost Sales with Automated Emails 300K+ · 4.8★ (625) wp.org #19 ↑3 4 too low 16 PDF Invoices & Packing Slips for WooCommerce 300K+ · 5.0★ (1865) wp.org #24 8 too low 17 Countdown, Coming Soon, Maintenance – Countdown & Clock 10K+ · 4.7★ (183) wp.org #20 ↓1 3 too low 18 Coming Soon Maintenance Mode 6K+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #5 ↑1 13 too high 19 Ultimate Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode & Under Construction – Gutenberg Block Builder & Landing Page 9K+ · 4.5★ (6) wp.org #11 8 too high 20 Coming Soon Badges for WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #16 4 too high 21 Coming Soon Products for WooCommerce 600+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #13 8 too high 22 IfElse Pages – Coming Soon and Maintenance Mode 200+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #21 ↓1 1 too high 23 F Fancy Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode 200+ · 3.0★ (10) wp.org #22 ↓1 1 too high 24 Products Coming Soon for WooCommerce 700+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #12 12 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.