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

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 “spiders”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

WP Spider Cache shows at wp.org #11 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 10+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.5★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Visualizer – Tables & Charts Manager with Built-in AI Generator places #9 on merit, 4.4★ from 225 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Admin Page Spider 1K+ · 4.8★ (22) wp.org #1 2 EazyDocs – AI Powered Knowledge Base, Wiki, Documentation & FAQ Builder 2K+ · 4.7★ (100) wp.org #5 3 too low 3 CryptX 10K+ · 4.5★ (20) wp.org #3 4 iubenda | All-in-one Compliance for GDPR / CCPA Cookie Consent + more 200K+ · 4.7★ (397) wp.org #10 6 too low 5 Advanced Accordion Gutenberg Block – Create Beautiful FAQs, Content Accordions & Interactive Tabs 9K+ · 4.1★ (34) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Weather Effect 4K+ · 4.5★ (30) wp.org #6 7 Forumax – AI Powered Advanced Community Forum Plugin 500+ · 5.0★ (18) wp.org #7 8 Spider Elements – Premium Elementor Widgets & Addons Library 400+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #2 6 too high 9 Visualizer – Tables & Charts Manager with Built-in AI Generator 20K+ · 4.4★ (225) wp.org #18 9 too low 10 MOBILOOK — Mobile View & Mobile‑Friendly Test 1K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #12 ↑1 2 too low 11 简数采集器 1K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #8 3 too high 12 U Urvanov Syntax Highlighter 3K+ · 4.5★ (19) wp.org #21 ↓1 9 too low 13 Changeloger – Changelog, Release Notes, Roadmap & Feature Requests 200+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #14 1 too low 14 WebDefender Security – Protection & AntiSpam 1K+ · 4.0★ (18) wp.org #24 ↓1 10 too low 15 Antimanual – Compact AI Agent for Content, Chat & SEO Automation 100+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #15 16 Spider Blocker 20K+ · 4.0★ (5) wp.org #16 17 Jobus – Job Board, Recruitment & Hiring Platform 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 8 too high 18 Bug Animation 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #20 2 too low 19 IMGspider – 图片采集抓取插件 2K+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #22 ↓1 3 too low 20 多合一搜索自动推送管理插件-支持Baidu/Google/Bing/IndexNow/Yandex/头条 2K+ · 2.6★ (5) wp.org #17 3 too high 21 Antimanual Builder – Truly AI Powered Visual Page Builder 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 ↓1 8 too high 22 WP Maintenance Mode & Site Under Construction 3K+ · 3.5★ (4) wp.org #19 3 too high 23 WP Spider Cache 10+ · 3.5★ (2) wp.org #11 12 too high 24 Solitaire Games: Klondike, FreeCell, Spider and Mahjong — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↓1 1 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.