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

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 “unified”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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

Checkout.com Payment Gateway shows at wp.org #6 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 200+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Post and Page Builder by BoldGrid – Visual Drag and Drop Editor places #12 on merit, 4.7★ from 140 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #1 2 Chatway Live Chat – AI Chatbot, Customer Support, FAQ & Helpdesk Customer Service & Chat Buttons 30K+ · 5.0★ (775) wp.org #2 3 MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation 500K+ · 4.4★ (1435) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 WP Umbrella: Security Backup Restore & Monitoring 90K+ · 4.8★ (81) wp.org #4 ↓1 5 Tutor LMS – eLearning and online course solution 100K+ · 4.4★ (590) wp.org #5 ↓1 6 Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – Easy Social Feeds Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4358) wp.org #11 ↓5 5 too low 7 UPI QR Code Payment Gateway for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.8★ (256) wp.org #7 ↑2 8 Reviews Widgets for Google, TripAdvisor, Yelp & Recommendations 10K+ · 4.9★ (326) wp.org #9 ↑2 1 too low 9 Spam Protection | Maspik 30K+ · 4.7★ (87) wp.org #10 1 too low 10 Animation Addons – Elementor Addons, GSAP Animations, Elementor V4 Atomic Widgets & Elementor Templates 10K+ · 4.6★ (66) wp.org #12 ↑1 2 too low 11 Metricool – Social media and site statistics 90K+ · 4.4★ (23) wp.org #8 ↑4 3 too high 12 Post and Page Builder by BoldGrid – Visual Drag and Drop Editor 50K+ · 4.7★ (140) wp.org #23 11 too low 13 WPZOOM Social Feed Widget & Block 50K+ · 4.3★ (51) wp.org #15 2 too low 14 CartFlows – Funnel Builder & Checkout Plugin for WooCommerce 200K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #20 ↑1 6 too low 15 Quotes for WooCommerce 4K+ · 4.6★ (61) wp.org #17 2 too low 16 SilentShield – Captcha & Anti-Spam for WordPress (CF7, WPForms, Elementor, WooCommerce) 10K+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #14 ↑5 2 too high 17 Photo Gallery – Image, Video & Portfolio 1K+ · 4.8★ (13) wp.org #21 ↑1 4 too low 18 Checkout.com Payment Gateway 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #6 ↓1 12 too high 19 E Email Post Changes 500+ · 4.0★ (13) wp.org #22 3 too low 20 Parsigate 900+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 Conekta Payment Gateway 2K+ · 3.5★ (6) wp.org #18 ↑1 3 too high 22 Uplink Unified Ops Center 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 9 too high 23 SEO Metrics 500+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 ↑1 4 too high 24 GlobalPayments Gateway Provider for WooCommerce 1K+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #16 8 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.