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

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 “terms”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 of the top 20. 2 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

Reorder Terms shows at wp.org #4 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 1K+ 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

WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More places #8 on merit, 4.8★ from 5209 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Category Order and Taxonomy Terms Order 500K+ · 4.5★ (162) wp.org #1 2 Complianz – Terms and Conditions 300K+ · 4.9★ (187) wp.org #2 3 Highlight Search Terms 6K+ · 5.0★ (40) wp.org #3 4 TermsFeed AutoTerms: Privacy Policy Generator, Cookie Consent, GDPR, CCPA, Terms & Conditions, Disclaimers, Cookies Policy, EULA 70K+ · 4.7★ (246) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #10 ↓4 5 too low 6 Polylang 900K+ · 4.7★ (3004) wp.org #12 ↑2 6 too low 7 PublishPress Taxonomies – Tag, Category, and Taxonomy Manager – Autotagger Automatically Add Terms 40K+ · 4.6★ (195) wp.org #11 ↓1 4 too low 8 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 #17 9 too low 9 Terms and Conditions Popup for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.9★ (28) wp.org #6 ↑2 3 too high 10 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1668) wp.org #18 ↑1 8 too low 11 WP Terms Popup – Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy WordPress Popups 3K+ · 4.8★ (15) wp.org #7 ↓1 4 too high 12 Additional Terms Lite for WooCommerce 2K+ · 3.6★ (16) wp.org #8 ↑3 4 too high 13 Privacy Policy Generator, Terms & Conditions, GDPR, CCPA, Cookie Policy & Disclaimer Templates – WPLP Legal Pages 10K+ · 4.7★ (93) wp.org #20 ↑4 7 too low 14 WP Term Order 6K+ · 4.8★ (20) wp.org #16 2 too low 15 Terms descriptions 1K+ · 4.9★ (10) wp.org #13 ↓1 2 too high 16 I Order Terms 1K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #15 1 too high 17 Legal Pages – Privacy Policy, Terms & Conditions, GDPR, CCPA, and Cookie Notice Generator 8K+ · 4.3★ (29) wp.org #22 ↑3 5 too low 18 Anything Order by Terms 900+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #9 ↑1 9 too high 19 Terms and Conditions per Product for WooCommerce 700+ · 4.6★ (13) wp.org #14 ↓1 5 too high 20 WP Term Images 2K+ · 4.6★ (10) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 Reorder Terms 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #4 17 too high 22 Reorder by Term 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #23 1 too low 23 Cookies, Terms & Conditions Consent Log 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #19 ↑4 4 too high 24 P Post Terms Order – per Post based 2K+ · 3.0★ (7) wp.org #21 ↑1 3 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.