Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “takeaway”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 5 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

SummarAIze shows at wp.org #4 but places #14 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 50+ 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

Restaurant Menu – Food Ordering System – Table Reservation places #10 on merit, 4.4★ from 54 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WPCafe – Restaurant Menu, Online Food Ordering & Table Booking System 5K+ · 4.6★ (113) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 WPSummarize – AI Summaries with key takeaways for your posts 100+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Product Table & List Builder for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.9★ (254) wp.org #6 ↓1 3 too low 4 RestroPress – Online Food Ordering System 1K+ · 4.4★ (102) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Agile Store Locator 10K+ · 4.9★ (59) wp.org #12 ↓2 7 too low 6 Shipping Zones by Drawing for WooCommerce 500+ · 4.1★ (24) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 Orderable – Restaurant & Food Ordering System 5K+ · 4.6★ (40) wp.org #14 ↓1 7 too low 8 Content Egg – Affiliate Product Importer & Price Comparison 10K+ · 3.9★ (56) wp.org #9 ↓1 1 too low 9 PrinterCo Automatic Order Printing for WooCommerce 300+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #7 2 too high 10 Restaurant Menu – Food Ordering System – Table Reservation 7K+ · 4.4★ (54) wp.org #18 ↑1 8 too low 11 Forumax – AI Powered Advanced Community Forum Plugin 500+ · 5.0★ (18) wp.org #16 ↓1 5 too low 12 Advanced Marquee Effect for Elementor – Smooth Marquee, News Ticker, Image Box & Icon Box Marquee 2K+ · 4.7★ (6) wp.org #11 1 too high 13 RankReady – AI SEO, Schema, llms.txt, AEO and GEO for ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity 500+ · 4.8★ (5) wp.org #10 ↓4 3 too high 14 SummarAIze 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #4 10 too high 15 bBlocks – Essential Gutenberg Blocks & Patterns Collection 700+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #20 5 too low 16 Flipdish Ordering System 400+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #17 1 too low 17 RestroFood Lite – Online Food Ordering and Restaurant Management Plugin For WooCommerce 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #13 ↑1 4 too high 18 FoodBook Lite – Online Food Ordering System 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 ↑1 10 too high 19 Volteruno – AI Blog Auto-Publish 70+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #22 3 too low 20 Blockenberg — 645 Advanced Gutenberg Blocks, 683 Templates and AI Agent for WordPress Block Editor 1K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too high 21 Order Tip & Donations for WooCommerce 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 ↑1 6 too high 22 Icon Box Block – Insert your favorite icon with customization and design 600+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 1 too high 23 AltoSum – AI Post Summary, TL;DR & Key Takeaways — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↑1 24 Newsroom OS – Google Discover, Google News, Schema & Editorial Workflow 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24

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.