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

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 “turbo”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

Turbo Rate Limiter shows at wp.org #9 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 60+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Seriously Simple Podcasting places #9 on merit, 4.7★ from 330 reviews, but shows at wp.org #15. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 RSS for Yandex Turbo 20K+ · 4.6★ (145) wp.org #3 2 too low 2 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links 200K+ · 4.8★ (1322) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 Turbo Addons Elementor 3K+ · 4.8★ (5) wp.org #1 3 too high 5 PhastPress 10K+ · 4.9★ (99) wp.org #6 ↑1 1 too low 6 Header Footer Builder for Elementor 30K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #2 4 too high 7 GN Publisher: Google News Compatible RSS Feeds 20K+ · 4.9★ (29) wp.org #7 ↑1 8 HUSKY – Products Filter for WooCommerce Professional. MCP is onboard 80K+ · 4.6★ (337) wp.org #11 ↑4 3 too low 9 Seriously Simple Podcasting 20K+ · 4.7★ (330) wp.org #15 ↑2 6 too low 10 BerqWP – All-In-One Optimization for Core Web Vitals, Cache, CDN, Images, CSS & JavaScript 4K+ · 4.3★ (54) wp.org #14 ↓1 4 too low 11 AI Bud – AI Content Generator, AI Chatbot, ChatGPT, Gemini, GPT-4o 2K+ · 4.5★ (23) wp.org #13 ↑3 2 too low 12 AI ChatBot with ChatGPT and Content Generator by AYS 300+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #10 ↑2 2 too high 13 Widgets on Pages 20K+ · 4.7★ (161) wp.org #23 ↓1 10 too low 14 Mihdan: Yandex Turbo Feed 1K+ · 4.7★ (31) wp.org #18 ↑1 4 too low 15 A2 Optimized WP – Turbocharge and secure your WordPress site 60K+ · 3.1★ (43) wp.org #17 ↑4 2 too low 16 Advanced Post Manager 4K+ · 3.5★ (11) wp.org #8 ↑2 8 too high 17 Turbo Admin 80+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #19 ↑1 2 too low 18 BotWriter – AI Writer & SEO Content Generator 1K+ · 4.4★ (16) wp.org #24 6 too low 19 AI Auto Post & Image Generator 200+ · 4.8★ (4) wp.org #22 3 too low 20 Turbo Rate Limiter 60+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 ↑2 11 too high 21 Whitespace Fixer for XML Sitemap 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #16 ↑2 5 too high 22 Turbo Guard – Security & Malware Scanner 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↑2 10 too high 23 HHG for TranslatePress 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #20 ↑3 3 too high 24 PurePen AI – AI Content Generator with Claude, GPT-4o, Gemini & More 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↑3 3 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.