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

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 “tienda”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 of the top 20.

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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Wompi Portal de Pagos shows at wp.org #5 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 6K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 2.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

eCommerce Product Catalog places #6 on merit, 4.7★ from 270 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

How this rank is calculated

Each plugin's merit score multiplies these inputs together: how recently it was updated, how current its "tested up to" WordPress version is, its install base (log scale, capped at 10 million), its support thread resolution rate, and a rating score. The rating score weights the star average by review volume against a sitewide prior, then scales it by the lower bound of the share of 4 and 5 star reviews. A plugin with 3.7 stars from tens of thousands of reviews can still outscore a 4.9 with a few dozen, because the small sample carries less certainty.

A health factor between 0.4 and 1.15 then adjusts that score for what wp.org's search can't see: PHP fatals or failed activations on a test install, PHP and WordPress compatibility, memory and page-speed footprint, suspicious review patterns, closure risk, and a large install base with very few reviews. Clean, adopted plugins earn a small lift.

A keyword ranking starts from wp.org's search order for the term, weighting each position by 1 divided by its place, then applies the merit correction and health factor above. Relevance to the keyword stays in the result, so the order can differ from the all-categories list on /best, which scores plugins with no search term.

Hover a row to see the main reason for its position.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Voyapp Chile – Lugares y Cotizador de Despachos 300+ · 4.8★ (16) wp.org #2 ↑3 1 too low 2 Bold pagos en linea 5K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Bulk Edit Products for WooCommerce – WP Sheet Editor 10K+ · 4.9★ (228) wp.org #9 ↑2 6 too low 4 Andreani WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too high 5 Bulk Edit and Create User Profiles – WP Sheet Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #11 ↑2 6 too low 6 eCommerce Product Catalog 7K+ · 4.7★ (270) wp.org #24 ↓4 18 too low 7 FACTO – Facturación Electrónica 300+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #4 ↓2 3 too high 8 OCA para WooCommerce 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #6 2 too high 9 Lawwwing | Textos legales web y Banner de cookies 700+ · 4.6★ (10) wp.org #18 ↑4 9 too low 10 Suscripciones y Pagos Recurrentes con Mercado Pago para WooCommerce 30+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #16 6 too low 11 Getnet Argentina para WooCommerce 400+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #21 10 too low 12 TicketBAI Facturas para WooCommerce 70+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #12 13 Skydropx 1K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 ↓1 5 too high 14 ARCA (ex AFIP) para WooCommerce 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 ↑1 7 too high 15 Wava Payment Plugin 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 16 Departamentos Uruguay for WooCommerce 50+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #19 3 too low 17 Wompi Portal de Pagos 6K+ · 2.0★ (4) wp.org #5 ↓2 12 too high 18 VentiPay 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 ↓1 8 too high 19 Edroz QR Payments 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #22 3 too low 20 MercadoPago Plus para WooCommerce 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 ↓3 7 too high 21 Shipit 300+ · 2.3★ (6) wp.org #20 ↓3 1 too high 22 Envíos Coordinadora Woocommerce (Oficial) – WordPress plugin 600+ · 2.5★ (4) wp.org #14 8 too high 23 Plugin de Clip para WooCommerce 800+ · 1.8★ (5) wp.org #17 ↑1 6 too high 24 Khipu for WooCommerce 300+ · 2.3★ (3) wp.org #23 1 too high

Merit ranking caps the install boost at 10M (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.