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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “square meter”

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 “square meter”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 3 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

FormGlut – Contact Form, Payment Forms, Multi-Step Forms, Conditional Form, Calculator & Custom Form Builder shows at wp.org #13 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 4 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Advanced Product Fields (Product Addons) for WooCommerce 50K+ · 4.8★ (284) wp.org #1 2 Donation Platform for WooCommerce: Fundraising & Donation Management 7K+ · 4.9★ (99) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Set Price Note (Units, Offers, Editions) for WooCommerce 700+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Opace AI Scribe: SEO Content Creator & Humanizer for OpenAI, Anthropic & Gemini 100+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Visual Editor Custom Buttons 3K+ · 4.6★ (37) wp.org #21 ↓2 16 too low 6 Pallet Sales for eCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too low 7 REES – Real Estate for Woo 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #4 3 too high 8 DTFBuild Gang Sheet Builder 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 ↑6 2 too high 9 Universal Unit Converter: Convert Length, Weight, Temperature, Speed, and Time 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 ↓1 1 too high 10 Realty by BestWebSoft 10+ · 3.4★ (5) wp.org #10 ↓1 11 Flooring Calculator for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 ↓1 2 too high 12 Nempra Measure Lite — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 ↓1 1 too high 13 Amitry Price Configurator for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↓1 1 too high 14 ViveSol Inmo Connect – Real Estate — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↓1 15 D Demi Yard Material Calculator — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 ↓1 16 DesignOrbital Progress Bar Block — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↓1 17 FormGlut – Contact Form, Payment Forms, Multi-Step Forms, Conditional Form, Calculator & Custom Form Builder 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 4 too high 18 Activator Toolkit for SOTA & POTA — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 ↓1 1 too high 19 Usedkit – Waitlist and Condition Grades for Used Goods — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 1 too high 20 OZY Forms — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↓2 1 too high 21 LAFU Gift Cards — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 1 too low 22 Perxel AI Translate — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↓3 1 too low 23 From Unit Converter to Unit-Aware Quantities & Calculators — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 ↓3 1 too low 24 MoonPress Chat 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 ↓2 4 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.