Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “uncheck”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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 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

Bulk Menu Edit shows at wp.org #5 but places #11 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 700+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.7★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Better Find and Replace – AI-Powered Suggestions places #5 on merit, 4.6★ from 171 reviews, but shows at wp.org #9. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Public Post Preview 100K+ · 4.6★ (79) wp.org #1 2 N NS Featured Posts 4K+ · 4.8★ (29) wp.org #2 3 Bootstrap Shortcodes 4K+ · 5.0★ (23) wp.org #3 4 Nested Pages 90K+ · 4.7★ (126) wp.org #6 ↓3 2 too low 5 Better Find and Replace – AI-Powered Suggestions 40K+ · 4.6★ (171) wp.org #9 ↓1 4 too low 6 Keep Emoticons as Text 700+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #4 2 too high 7 Structured Content (JSON-LD) #wpsc 30K+ · 4.6★ (25) wp.org #11 ↓2 4 too low 8 Autopost for X (formerly Autoshare for Twitter) 5K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too high 9 PDF Generator for WordPress 1K+ · 4.6★ (39) wp.org #16 ↓3 7 too low 10 WPC Admin Columns 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #8 ↓1 2 too high 11 Bulk Menu Edit 700+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #5 6 too high 12 Under The Weather 60+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #10 2 too high 13 atec WebP 70+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #12 ↓1 1 too high 14 GDPR-DSGVO compliant Embeds for Google Maps 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #13 ↓1 1 too high 15 Move Addons for Elementor 2K+ · 4.0★ (6) wp.org #18 ↓1 3 too low 16 eDarpan: Website Protection 200+ · 3.8★ (5) wp.org #14 2 too high 17 Freight Integration for Woocommerce to Profrakt and Logistra by WildRobot 200+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #24 ↓1 7 too low 18 Never Moderate Registered Users 20+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too low 19 G GTM Code Visibility 60+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 ↓1 2 too high 20 Private Post Share 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 5 too high 21 CustomDonations – Donation, Membership, and Fundraising Forms with Stripe, PayPal and DAF Pay 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 ↓2 1 too low 22 Telephone Input For Contact Form 7 700+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↓1 1 too low 23 A API Mailer for AWS SES 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 ↑1 3 too high 24 flux360 Precision Delete 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↓2 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.