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

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 “success”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 4 plugins are 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

Success Fail Popup Message For Contact Form 7 shows at wp.org #8 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 2.3★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Advanced Product Fields (Product Addons) for WooCommerce places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 284 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #2 ↑1 1 too low 2 Database Addon for Contact Form 7 – CFDB7 600K+ · 5.0★ (1875) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too low 3 WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More 4M+ · 4.8★ (5209) wp.org #4 ↑3 1 too low 4 Successful Redirection for Contact Form 10K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #1 ↑1 3 too high 5 GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 100K+ · 4.6★ (708) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Postie 10K+ · 4.7★ (139) wp.org #7 ↑6 1 too low 7 JetBackup – Backup, Restore & Migrate 200K+ · 4.5★ (1056) wp.org #13 ↑1 6 too low 8 AcyMailing – An Ultimate Newsletter Plugin and Marketing Automation Solution for WordPress 5K+ · 4.8★ (157) wp.org #10 2 too low 9 Ninja Forms – Contact Form Builder with Calculators, Quizzes, Signatures & AI Form Builder 500K+ · 4.4★ (1397) wp.org #16 7 too low 10 Enable Media Replace 600K+ · 4.4★ (302) wp.org #15 ↑4 5 too low 11 Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #14 ↑1 3 too low 12 Advanced Product Fields (Product Addons) for WooCommerce 50K+ · 4.8★ (284) wp.org #22 ↑1 10 too low 13 Ajaxify Comments – Ajax and Lazy Loading Comments 3K+ · 4.8★ (91) wp.org #17 4 too low 14 Google for WooCommerce 800K+ · 2.7★ (268) wp.org #5 9 too high 15 Child Theme Wizard 10K+ · 4.9★ (36) wp.org #20 ↓2 5 too low 16 WP Bannerize Pro 800+ · 4.9★ (10) wp.org #12 4 too high 17 Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) wp.org #19 2 too low 18 RSFirewall! 4K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #11 7 too high 19 Mollie Payments for WooCommerce 100K+ · 3.6★ (69) wp.org #18 1 too high 20 Conversion Tracking for WooCommerce 20K+ · 3.0★ (24) wp.org #9 11 too high 21 Another Mailchimp Widget 4K+ · 4.6★ (9) wp.org #24 ↓2 3 too low 22 Age Gate Lite 2K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #23 ↓2 1 too low 23 CleverReach® WP 4K+ · 3.0★ (8) wp.org #21 ↓1 2 too high 24 Success Fail Popup Message For Contact Form 7 100+ · 2.3★ (3) wp.org #8 16 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.