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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “uber direct”

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 “uber direct”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 5 of the top 20. 7 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

Novalnet Payment Gateway for Easy Digital Downloads shows at wp.org #7 but places #11 on merit, a gap of 4 places. Its 20+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Password Protected places #1 on merit, 4.4★ from 142 reviews, but shows at wp.org #8. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Password Protected 300K+ · 4.4★ (142) wp.org #8 7 too low 2 affiliate-toolkit – Multi-Network Affiliate & Amazon Product Display 2K+ · 4.5★ (22) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Uber Direct Integration 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 Webling 500+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 UDW Delivery – Uber Direct for WooCommerce 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #2 3 too high 6 Novalnet Payment Gateway for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.3★ (4) wp.org #4 2 too high 7 Unused Media Checker 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 payever Checkout – Composable Payment Gateway 800+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 1 too low 9 Gartentechnik.com 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 ↓1 1 too low 10 AI-Ready WP 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 ↓1 1 too low 11 Novalnet Payment Gateway for Easy Digital Downloads 20+ · 4.0★ (1) wp.org #7 4 too high 12 SMTP Mail Control for MailPoet 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #20 ↓1 8 too low 13 Sidcraft Restaurant for Sidcraft Commerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 ↓1 14 Gravity Forms payment plugin – Novalnet AG 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↓1 15 Portrait-Archiv Photostore – Sell Photos & Client Galleries 10+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #12 ↓1 3 too high 16 Der Donat Easy SEO 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 ↓1 1 too high 17 PriceBoard Lite — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↓1 1 too high 18 meinService AI Auto Feed to Post Creator — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 ↓1 1 too high 19 KokobeoChat – AI Live Chat, Chatbot & Multi-Channel Support Widget — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 ↓1 1 too high 20 Banana Defender – GDPR-Compliant Firewall, Scanner & Virtual Patching for WordPress 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too high 21 MemberPress payment addon – Novalnet AG — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↓2 2 too low 22 AI Scribe – Content Writer, OpenAI GPT 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 ↓1 2 too low 23 GiroCheckout Plug-in for WooCommerce 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↓1 2 too high 24 onOffice for WP-Websites 800+ · 2.0★ (4) wp.org #22 2 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.