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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “turn tracker”

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 “turn tracker”, we and wp.org disagree 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

UTM Tracker for Gravity Forms shows at wp.org #5 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 100+ 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

Customer Reviews for WooCommerce places #4 on merit, 4.8★ from 1539 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 HandL UTM Grabber / Tracker 10K+ · 4.8★ (146) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Email Tracker 800+ · 4.4★ (21) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #7 4 too low 4 Customer Reviews for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (1539) wp.org #16 ↓2 12 too low 5 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #10 ↓2 5 too low 6 SlimStat Analytics – Real-Time Stats, Heatmaps & Ecommerce 70K+ · 4.8★ (816) wp.org #9 ↑7 3 too low 7 Activity Log – Monitor User and Agent Changes 200K+ · 4.3★ (74) wp.org #8 ↑1 1 too low 8 Events Tracker for Elementor 9K+ · 4.5★ (48) wp.org #6 2 too high 9 Project Manager – AI Powered Project Management, Task Management, Kanban Board & Time Tracker 5K+ · 3.8★ (187) wp.org #11 ↓1 2 too low 10 The Plus Addons for Elementor – Mega Menu, Header Footer, Post Grid, AI Widgets & Templates 100K+ · 4.6★ (388) wp.org #20 ↓1 10 too low 11 WebberZone Top 10 — Popular Posts 10K+ · 4.6★ (102) wp.org #18 ↓1 7 too low 12 Nexter Blocks – Gutenberg Blocks, Page Builder & AI Website Builder 9K+ · 4.8★ (90) wp.org #17 5 too low 13 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #12 ↓1 1 too high 14 Disable Comments 1M+ · 4.7★ (281) wp.org #24 10 too low 15 BaseCloud UTM Tracker 90+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #4 11 too high 16 WhatsLink Click Tracker 400+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #3 13 too high 17 Flipa PDF Flipbook – PDF Viewer and Page Flip Book 800+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #19 ↓1 2 too low 18 Check for Broken Links – Broken Link Checker & SEO Suite 1K+ · 4.0★ (6) wp.org #15 3 too high 19 UTM Tracker for Gravity Forms 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #5 14 too high 20 Wedding RSVP – Wedding Guest List, Meal Choices & RSVP Tracker 100+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #22 2 too low 21 Lost Search Result Tracker 10+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #23 2 too low 22 Snitcher Tracker 70+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↓1 8 too high 23 Webwall QR Campaign Tracker 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 ↓1 10 too high 24 Benchmark Email Lite 1K+ · 4.0★ (3) wp.org #21 ↓1 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.