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

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 “taxjar”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 4 of the top 14. 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

TejCart shows at wp.org #6 but places #10 on merit, a gap of 4 places. Its — 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Ecwid by Lightspeed Ecommerce Shopping Cart 20K+ · 4.5★ (228) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 WP EasyCart: Shopping Cart and eCommerce Store 3K+ · 4.5★ (206) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 SureCart – Ecommerce Made Easy For Selling Physical Products, Digital Downloads, Subscriptions, Donations, & Payments 80K+ · 4.8★ (288) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 TaxJar – Sales Tax Automation for WooCommerce 5K+ · 2.6★ (28) wp.org #1 3 too high 5 CoCart – Headless REST API for WooCommerce 900+ · 4.9★ (21) wp.org #10 5 too low 6 Prodigy Commerce 20+ · 3.7★ (6) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 Advanced Shipping Manager 40+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #9 ↑2 2 too low 8 WooCommerce Tax (formerly WooCommerce Shipping & Tax) 500K+ · 2.0★ (105) wp.org #7 ↑1 1 too high 9 Bolt Checkout for WooCommerce 100+ · 3.0★ (10) wp.org #11 ↑1 2 too low 10 TejCart — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 4 too high 11 TaxDebug for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 ↓1 3 too high 12 E EDD TaxJar 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↑1 13 Tax Free Weekend for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 ↑1 14 TaxKeel – Tax Setup & Checker for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↑1

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.