Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “space x”

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 “space x”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

Jupiter X Core shows at wp.org #2 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 22 places. Its 70K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 1.9★ average from 9 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Customer Reviews for WooCommerce places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 1539 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Custom Twitter Feeds – A Tweets Widget or X Feed Widget 100K+ · 4.8★ (401) wp.org #3 ↓1 2 too low 2 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #6 ↑1 3 too low 4 Nextend Social Login and Register 200K+ · 4.9★ (446) wp.org #8 4 too low 5 Better Click To Share – Shareable Quote Boxes for X (Twitter) 6K+ · 4.8★ (48) wp.org #5 ↑1 6 Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense 90K+ · 4.9★ (1463) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 Events Manager – Calendar, Bookings, Tickets, Appointments and more! 60K+ · 4.2★ (551) wp.org #7 ↓2 8 Imsanity 200K+ · 4.9★ (291) wp.org #10 ↑1 2 too low 9 Advanced Database Cleaner – Optimize & Clean Database to Speed Up Site Performance 100K+ · 4.9★ (1962) wp.org #17 ↓7 8 too low 10 Download Manager 100K+ · 4.1★ (1006) wp.org #12 ↓3 2 too low 11 Customer Reviews for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (1539) wp.org #21 ↑2 10 too low 12 PDF Invoices & Packing Slips for WooCommerce 300K+ · 5.0★ (1865) wp.org #13 ↑1 1 too low 13 Social Preview and Open Graph Tags 50K+ · 4.6★ (122) wp.org #14 ↑1 1 too low 14 Blog2Social: Social Media Auto Post & Scheduler 40K+ · 4.5★ (2107) wp.org #18 4 too low 15 Orphans 50K+ · 5.0★ (164) wp.org #20 ↑1 5 too low 16 Social Media Auto Poster – Schedule & Publish to Buffer 7K+ · 4.5★ (125) wp.org #15 ↓2 1 too high 17 Custom Product Tabs for WooCommerce & WordPress Tabs Builder – Smart Tabs 10K+ · 4.9★ (134) wp.org #23 ↓7 6 too low 18 Money Space 70+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #1 17 too high 19 WP Review Slider 6K+ · 4.8★ (181) wp.org #16 ↑1 3 too high 20 WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #22 1 too low 22 SOOZ – AI for SEO – Bulk Generate Focus Keyphrases, Metadata, Alt Text (SEO Autopilot) 2K+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #11 ↑1 11 too high 23 Zalomení 6K+ · 5.0★ (15) wp.org #19 4 too high 24 Jupiter X Core 70K+ · 1.9★ (9) wp.org #2 ↑1 22 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.