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

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 “tos”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

SureDonation – Donation Forms, Fundraising Campaigns & Donor Management shows at wp.org #7 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 4K+ 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

Big File Uploads – Increase Maximum File Upload Size places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 403 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 TablePress – Tables in WordPress made easy 600K+ · 5.0★ (4625) wp.org #1 ↑1 2 MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation 500K+ · 4.4★ (1435) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #3 4 Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads 300K+ · 4.9★ (2433) wp.org #6 ↑2 2 too low 5 Depicter — Popup & Slider Builder 70K+ · 4.6★ (236) wp.org #5 ↓1 6 Responsive Lightbox & Gallery 100K+ · 4.9★ (2003) wp.org #8 ↓2 2 too low 7 Element Pack Addons for Elementor – MCP & AI-Ready Elementor Widgets, Elementor Templates, Elementor Addons 100K+ · 4.7★ (284) wp.org #9 ↓2 2 too low 8 Timeline Widget For Elementor (Elementor Timeline, Vertical & Horizontal Timeline) 70K+ · 4.8★ (248) wp.org #11 ↓1 3 too low 9 LocoAI – Auto Translate for Loco Translate 70K+ · 4.9★ (642) wp.org #14 ↓5 5 too low 10 Big File Uploads – Increase Maximum File Upload Size 100K+ · 4.9★ (403) wp.org #22 ↓2 12 too low 11 Cool Flipbox – Shortcode & Gutenberg Block 5K+ · 4.8★ (103) wp.org #16 ↓1 5 too low 12 Responsive Starter Templates – Elementor Templates & Starter Sites 10K+ · 4.5★ (39) wp.org #15 ↓1 3 too low 13 Quiz Builder for WooCommerce – Product Recommendations 2K+ · 5.0★ (102) wp.org #23 ↓2 10 too low 14 WooCommerce Tax (formerly WooCommerce Shipping & Tax) 500K+ · 2.1★ (106) wp.org #4 ↑1 10 too high 15 Input Mask For Elementor Form Fields 10K+ · 4.5★ (24) wp.org #13 ↓1 2 too high 16 CommerceBird – AI Support & Sales Agents, Helpdesk and B2B for WooCommerce 400+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #10 ↑3 6 too high 17 Cool FormKit Lite – Advanced Form Builder for Elementor 20K+ · 4.6★ (25) wp.org #20 ↓1 3 too low 18 Timeline Block For Gutenberg 9K+ · 4.4★ (11) wp.org #12 ↓1 6 too high 19 Linguator – AI Auto Translate & Create Multilingual Sites 3K+ · 4.6★ (20) wp.org #24 5 too low 20 CookieFox – Cookie Notice 400+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #18 ↓1 2 too high 21 Bradmax Player 1K+ · 4.3★ (11) wp.org #19 ↓1 2 too high 22 Web Stories Widgets For Elementor 900+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #17 ↓1 5 too high 23 VietQR 4K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #21 2 too high 24 SureDonation – Donation Forms, Fundraising Campaigns & Donor Management 4K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 17 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.