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

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 “training”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 5 of the top 20. 4 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

Jotform – AI Chatbot shows at wp.org #13 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 5K+ 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #1 2 Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #2 3 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too low 4 Starter Templates: AI-Powered Website Templates for Elementor & Gutenberg 1M+ · 4.9★ (4755) wp.org #6 ↓1 2 too low 5 Masteriyo LMS – LMS Course Builder, Quizzes & Certificates 6K+ · 4.8★ (184) wp.org #3 ↓1 2 too high 6 Appointment Hour Booking – Booking Calendar 10K+ · 4.9★ (524) wp.org #8 ↑1 2 too low 7 Eventin – Events Calendar, Tickets, Registration, Booking & WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.7★ (413) wp.org #5 ↓1 2 too high 8 Quiz and Survey Master (QSM) – Quiz Maker & Survey Maker 40K+ · 4.7★ (1282) wp.org #11 ↑1 3 too low 9 LifterLMS – WP LMS for eLearning, Online Courses, & Quizzes 10K+ · 4.8★ (393) wp.org #10 ↓3 1 too low 10 Events Manager – Calendar, Bookings, Tickets, Appointments and more! 60K+ · 4.2★ (551) wp.org #7 ↓1 3 too high 11 PixelYourSite – Your smart PIXEL (TAG) & API Manager 400K+ · 4.3★ (281) wp.org #9 ↑2 2 too high 12 Password Protected 300K+ · 4.4★ (142) wp.org #14 2 too low 13 Smart COD for WooCommerce 30K+ · 4.6★ (52) wp.org #12 ↓4 1 too high 14 LoginPress | wp-login Custom Login Page Customizer 200K+ · 4.8★ (1077) wp.org #21 ↓3 7 too low 15 Accessibility Tools & Alt Text Finder 3K+ · 4.9★ (69) wp.org #16 ↓2 1 too low 16 LearnPress – WordPress LMS Plugin for Create and Sell Online Courses 70K+ · 4.3★ (597) wp.org #17 ↑7 1 too low 17 Echo Knowledge Base – Documentation, FAQs, Chat & Smart Search 10K+ · 4.9★ (124) wp.org #24 ↓1 7 too low 18 Video Dashboard 600+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #15 ↓2 3 too high 19 LLMs.txt and LLMs-Full.txt Generator 4K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #19 ↓4 20 AI Scrape Protect 400+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #20 ↓3 21 AI Content Signals 800+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #23 ↓3 2 too low 22 FrontEdit – Live Frontend Block Editor 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #18 ↓2 4 too high 23 Lead Generation Contact Widget & AI Chatbot: Chat Button, Phone Call, Telegram, Email – SiteLeads 10K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #22 ↓3 1 too high 24 Jotform – AI Chatbot 5K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 ↓3 11 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.