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← Rankings

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

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

Timed Visibility Block shows at wp.org #11 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 40+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.5★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Poptin – Email Marketing Automation, Newsletter & Exit Pop Ups, Email Popups places #7 on merit, 4.9★ from 701 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Timed Content 5K+ · 4.6★ (41) wp.org #1 2 Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads 300K+ · 4.9★ (2433) wp.org #5 ↑1 3 too low 3 Events Manager – Calendar, Bookings, Tickets, Appointments and more! 60K+ · 4.2★ (551) wp.org #3 4 Popup Maker – Boost Sales, Conversions, Optins, Subscribers with the Ultimate WP Popup Builder 600K+ · 4.9★ (4514) wp.org #7 ↓2 3 too low 5 CartFlows – Funnel Builder & Checkout Plugin for WooCommerce 200K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Boxzilla – WordPress Popup Builder 20K+ · 4.8★ (133) wp.org #8 ↓1 2 too low 7 Poptin – Email Marketing Automation, Newsletter & Exit Pop Ups, Email Popups 20K+ · 4.9★ (701) wp.org #14 7 too low 8 Defender Security – Malware Scanner, Login Security & Firewall 80K+ · 4.8★ (334) wp.org #12 4 too low 9 Timed Content For Beaver Builder 900+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #2 7 too high 10 WP REST Cache 10K+ · 4.9★ (42) wp.org #6 ↑2 4 too high 11 WP-UserOnline 10K+ · 4.6★ (38) wp.org #13 2 too low 12 WPPizza – A Restaurant Plugin 900+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #16 ↓1 4 too low 13 FluentPlayer – Video Player With Forms & Lead Capture 2K+ · 4.7★ (14) wp.org #9 4 too high 14 Email Subscribers & Newsletters by Icegram Express – Email Marketing, Post Notifications & WooCommerce Marekting Automation for WordPress 50K+ · 4.6★ (1170) wp.org #23 9 too low 15 Add to Calendar Button 3K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #10 5 too high 16 Retainful – WooCommerce Abandoned Cart, Newsletters, Email Marketing, Signup Forms and Automation 1K+ · 4.9★ (98) wp.org #17 1 too low 17 Quiz Cat – WordPress Quiz Plugin 4K+ · 4.7★ (35) wp.org #20 ↑1 3 too low 18 SureContact – Newsletters, Email Marketing, Automation, Revenue Tracking & CRM 10K+ · 4.8★ (21) wp.org #21 ↑1 3 too low 19 Abandoned Cart Lite for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.1★ (85) wp.org #18 1 too high 20 AdPlugg WordPress Ad Plugin 400+ · 4.4★ (36) wp.org #24 ↓1 4 too low 21 Broken Link Checker by AIOSEO – Find & Fix Broken Internal, External & Video Links 200K+ · 3.8★ (87) wp.org #22 ↓2 1 too low 22 Promolayer – Popup Builder & Abandonment Preventer 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #19 3 too high 23 Leadpages 10K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #15 ↑1 8 too high 24 Timed Visibility Block 40+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #11 13 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.