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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “style.css”

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 “style.css”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 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

WPS Child Theme Generator shows at wp.org #3 but places #13 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 6K+ 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.

Buried gem

Beautiful taxonomy filters places #12 on merit, 4.9★ from 68 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Advanced Editor Tools 1M+ · 4.5★ (354) wp.org #1 2 WP-PageNavi 400K+ · 4.7★ (149) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 Disable Comments 1M+ · 4.7★ (281) wp.org #8 5 too low 4 WP Child Theme Generator 20K+ · 4.7★ (19) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Create Block Theme 20K+ · 4.8★ (38) wp.org #10 5 too low 6 Highlight Search Terms 6K+ · 5.0★ (40) wp.org #11 5 too low 7 Widget CSS Classes 80K+ · 4.9★ (74) wp.org #18 11 too low 8 PRyC WP: Add timestamp to style.css link 70+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #2 6 too high 9 Prevent Browser Caching 10K+ · 4.9★ (29) wp.org #14 5 too low 10 WP Remove Query Strings From Static Resources 3K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #5 5 too high 11 Autover 800+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #7 4 too high 12 Beautiful taxonomy filters 2K+ · 4.9★ (68) wp.org #24 12 too low 13 WPS Child Theme Generator 6K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #3 10 too high 14 Progress Bar 1K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #19 5 too low 15 Genesis Connect for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.1★ (17) wp.org #13 2 too high 16 Manager for IcoMoon 400+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #9 7 too high 17 Simple Pull Quote 1K+ · 4.2★ (10) wp.org #22 5 too low 18 Language Switcher 1K+ · 4.0★ (7) wp.org #21 3 too low 19 Text Replace – Find and Replace WordPress Strings 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #17 2 too high 20 WP-CommentNavi 700+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #12 8 too high 21 StaticDelivr: Free CDN, Image Optimization & Speed 50+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #23 2 too low 22 Pagebreak Description 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 7 too high 23 Source Lens – Code Finder 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 7 too high 24 R Remove WordPress Version – Hide Generator Meta Tag 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 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.