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← Rankings

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

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 “thread”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 3 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

VK All in One Expansion Unit shows at wp.org #9 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 100K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 7 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Disable Admin Notices – Hide Dashboard Notifications places #10 on merit, 4.7★ from 367 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461) wp.org #1 2 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #2 3 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 Better Messages – Chat Rooms, Group Chat, Private Messages & AI Chat Bots 10K+ · 4.8★ (142) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #7 ↑3 2 too low 6 Event Tickets and Registration 90K+ · 3.5★ (236) wp.org #4 ↓1 2 too high 7 Blog2Social: Social Media Auto Post & Scheduler 40K+ · 4.5★ (2107) wp.org #8 1 too low 8 Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense 90K+ · 4.9★ (1463) wp.org #10 2 too low 9 Metricool – Social media and site statistics 90K+ · 4.4★ (23) wp.org #6 3 too high 10 Disable Admin Notices – Hide Dashboard Notifications 100K+ · 4.7★ (367) wp.org #16 6 too low 11 Social Media Auto Poster – Schedule & Publish to Buffer 7K+ · 4.5★ (125) wp.org #11 ↓4 12 Comments – wpDiscuz 60K+ · 4.7★ (581) wp.org #13 1 too low 13 AddToAny Share Buttons 300K+ · 4.7★ (1114) wp.org #14 ↑1 1 too low 14 User Switching 200K+ · 4.9★ (238) wp.org #19 ↑1 5 too low 15 Hubbub Lite – Fast, free social sharing and follow buttons 30K+ · 4.7★ (173) wp.org #18 ↓1 3 too low 16 When Last Login 40K+ · 4.7★ (37) wp.org #12 ↓1 4 too high 17 WP Performance Score Booster – Optimize Speed, Enable Cache & Page Preload 10K+ · 4.6★ (339) wp.org #22 ↓1 5 too low 18 Social Media Auto Publish 5K+ · 4.7★ (345) wp.org #15 ↓1 3 too high 19 Orbit Fox: Duplicate Page, Menu Icons, SVG Support, Cookie Notice, Custom Fonts & More 100K+ · 4.8★ (317) wp.org #21 2 too low 20 SchedulePress – Auto Post & Publish, Auto Social Share, Schedule Posts with Editorial Calendar & Missed Schedule Post Publisher 10K+ · 4.6★ (201) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 Remove Category URL – Remove ‘category’ base from category permalinks 40K+ · 4.3★ (61) wp.org #23 ↓1 2 too low 22 Easy MCP AI – Connect Claude to WordPress: MCP Server for ChatGPT & AI Agents 30K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #17 ↑2 5 too high 23 Social Sharing Block 7K+ · 5.0★ (18) wp.org #20 ↓2 3 too high 24 VK All in One Expansion Unit 100K+ · 4.0★ (7) wp.org #9 15 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.