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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “under development”

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 “under development”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

Siteready Coming Soon Under Construction shows at wp.org #4 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 4K+ 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

WP Reset places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 1014 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Spectra Legacy – Gutenberg Blocks 1M+ · 4.7★ (1872) wp.org #3 2 too low 2 Theme Switcha – Easily Switch Themes for Development and Testing 7K+ · 4.4★ (63) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869) wp.org #5 ↑1 2 too low 4 L Local Development 90+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #1 ↑1 3 too high 5 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #7 ↑3 2 too low 6 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #9 ↓1 3 too low 7 LightStart – Maintenance Mode, Coming Soon and Landing Page Builder 400K+ · 4.3★ (874) wp.org #12 ↑2 5 too low 8 Dynamic Visibility for Elementor 50K+ · 4.6★ (89) wp.org #6 ↓1 2 too high 9 CWILL (Formerly ParcelPanel) – Shipment Tracking, Tracking & Order Tracking for WooCommerce 7K+ · 4.9★ (538) wp.org #17 ↓2 8 too low 10 SVG Support 1M+ · 4.8★ (356) wp.org #13 3 too low 11 WP Reset 300K+ · 4.8★ (1014) wp.org #21 10 too low 12 Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #15 ↓2 3 too low 13 Docket Cache – Object Cache Accelerator 20K+ · 4.9★ (50) wp.org #16 ↑4 3 too low 14 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1668) wp.org #24 10 too low 15 One Click Demo Import 1M+ · 4.3★ (79) wp.org #11 4 too high 16 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #23 ↓4 7 too low 17 Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 3K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #18 ↓2 1 too low 18 Maintenance Redirect 10K+ · 4.9★ (24) wp.org #22 4 too low 19 Widget Context 30K+ · 4.5★ (98) wp.org #19 ↓2 20 Restrict Website Access 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #8 ↓1 12 too high 21 Siteready Coming Soon Under Construction 4K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #4 17 too high 22 Yoast Test Helper 50K+ · 4.9★ (12) wp.org #20 ↓2 2 too high 23 WooCommerce Analytics 20K+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #10 ↓1 13 too high 24 GW Under Construction Mode 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #14 ↓2 10 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.