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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “star voting”

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 “star voting”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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

Rate Star Review Vote – AJAX Reviews, Votes, Star Ratings shows at wp.org #4 but places #11 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 20+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 kk Star Ratings – Rate Post & Collect User Feedbacks 70K+ · 3.9★ (171) wp.org #1 2 WP ULike – Like Buttons, Voting & Engagement Analytics 60K+ · 4.8★ (283) wp.org #2 3 Customer Reviews for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (1539) wp.org #5 ↓1 2 too low 4 Stars Rating 1K+ · 4.7★ (23) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Gwolle Guestbook 20K+ · 4.8★ (113) wp.org #8 ↓2 3 too low 6 Poll Maker by AYS – Versus Polls, Anonymous Polls, Image Polls 6K+ · 4.4★ (91) wp.org #6 ↑1 7 Contest Gallery – Upload & Vote Photos, Media, Sell with PayPal & Stripe 1K+ · 4.4★ (89) wp.org #7 ↑1 8 ReviewX – Multi-Criteria Reviews for WooCommerce with Google Reviews & Schema 6K+ · 4.5★ (85) wp.org #9 1 too low 9 Like Button Rating ♥ LikeBtn 3K+ · 4.4★ (273) wp.org #10 1 too low 10 GD Rating System 1K+ · 4.3★ (24) wp.org #12 2 too low 11 Rate Star Review Vote – AJAX Reviews, Votes, Star Ratings 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #4 ↑1 7 too high 12 Turbo Addons Elementor 3K+ · 4.8★ (5) wp.org #16 4 too low 13 Photo Contest | Competition | Video Contest 200+ · 4.5★ (19) wp.org #23 ↓4 10 too low 14 YayReviews – Advanced Customer Reviews for WooCommerce 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #14 15 Post Engagement – Like Dislike, Share, Views, Star Rating, Favorites & Copy Posts 30+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #11 4 too high 16 Pollify – Feedback Polls, Anonymous Polls, Up/down Voting, NPS Surveys, Export data 60+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #13 3 too high 17 SimpleForm – Form Maker to Chat Apps with Quiz, Poll and Multi Lead Notifications 30+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #21 ↑3 4 too low 18 Easy Content Manager (ECM) – Custom Post Types, Custom Fields & Content Management 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #20 2 too low 19 Reviewify — Review Discounts & Photo/Video Reviews for WooCommerce 30+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #17 2 too high 20 Photo & Video Reviews for WooCommerce — PVR Media Reviews — · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #22 2 too low 21 Init Review System – Reactions, Multi-Criteria, Guest-Friendly 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 6 too high 22 Extended Schema Types for SEO 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↓1 3 too high 23 Picture Gallery – Frontend Uploads & Image Editor 400+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #18 ↑3 5 too high 24 PlexRate – Smart Star Ratings — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 ↓4

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.