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

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 “stealth”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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 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

Ultimate Twitter Feeds shows at wp.org #9 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 300+ 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.

Buried gem

Smart Grid-Layout Design for Contact Form 7 places #8 on merit, 4.5★ from 72 reviews, but shows at wp.org #13. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Simple History – Track, Log, and Audit WordPress Changes 300K+ · 4.9★ (491) wp.org #1 2 CAOS | Host Google Analytics Locally 10K+ · 4.9★ (128) wp.org #2 3 Bogo 10K+ · 4.5★ (48) wp.org #3 4 hCaptcha for WP 70K+ · 4.6★ (88) wp.org #6 ↓1 2 too low 5 Cimo – Free Instant Image Optimizer & WebP Converter 10K+ · 4.9★ (20) wp.org #5 ↑1 6 Custom Login 10K+ · 3.6★ (97) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 Menu In Post 2K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #4 3 too high 8 Smart Grid-Layout Design for Contact Form 7 10K+ · 4.5★ (72) wp.org #13 5 too low 9 Custom Datepicker NMR 1K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #8 1 too high 10 Store file uploads for Contact Form 7 1K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #10 11 Post My CF7 Form 2K+ · 4.8★ (48) wp.org #17 ↑1 6 too low 12 W WP-OTP 100+ · 4.0★ (9) wp.org #11 1 too high 13 Cryptocurrency Payment Gateway for WordPress & WooCommerce by CryptoPay 70+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #21 8 too low 14 Secure Encrypted Form 50+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #23 9 too low 15 Forms with chart from VAB 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #18 ↓1 3 too low 16 Ultimate Twitter Feeds 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 7 too high 17 LightPIX Stealth Image Compression — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 5 too high 18 C CleanSite Stealth — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↓1 2 too high 19 auto-post.io 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 5 too high 20 Snap Tales – User, Post, Product and Admin Stories, Integrated with BuddyPress and PeepSo 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 ↑1 5 too high 21 MSC Stealth Login — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 1 too high 22 AlmaWeb AI Visitor Analytics 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 23 Juliet Just Masks 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 Resetify – Advanced Reset & Database Cleaner 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 5 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.