Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “unique id”

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 “unique id”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 of the top 20. 2 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

Date Filters, Date Picker & Unique IDs for Gravity Forms – Hero Add-On shows at wp.org #3 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 18 places. Its 70+ 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

PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 1322 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 U Unique Headers 10K+ · 4.9★ (160) wp.org #1 2 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #4 ↑1 2 too low 3 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #6 ↑11 3 too low 4 Modula Image Gallery – Photo Grid & Video Gallery 100K+ · 4.7★ (616) wp.org #10 ↑1 6 too low 5 Custom Permalinks 100K+ · 4.1★ (116) wp.org #7 ↓1 2 too low 6 Smart Slider 3 800K+ · 4.9★ (1125) wp.org #12 ↑4 6 too low 7 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #13 ↓1 6 too low 8 bbPress 100K+ · 3.9★ (343) wp.org #11 ↓1 3 too low 9 Sticky Menu & Sticky Header 90K+ · 4.7★ (763) wp.org #19 ↓6 10 too low 10 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #18 8 too low 11 PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links 200K+ · 4.8★ (1322) wp.org #24 13 too low 12 Cart Abandonment Recovery for WooCommerce – Recover Lost Sales with Automated Emails 300K+ · 4.8★ (626) wp.org #14 2 too low 13 Social Feed Gallery 80K+ · 4.5★ (303) wp.org #23 10 too low 14 Popup Builder – Create highly converting, mobile friendly marketing popups. 200K+ · 4.7★ (2215) wp.org #21 7 too low 15 Remove Social ID for WP 100+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #5 ↓1 10 too high 16 Disable Media Pages 10K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #16 ↓1 17 Timetable and Event Schedule by MotoPress 30K+ · 4.3★ (69) wp.org #22 ↓2 5 too low 18 VerifyPass Community ID 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #2 16 too high 19 WPSSO Schema Product Metadata for WooCommerce 400+ · 4.8★ (16) wp.org #15 ↓6 4 too high 20 Metronet Tag Manager 20K+ · 4.8★ (8) wp.org #17 ↓3 3 too high 21 Date Filters, Date Picker & Unique IDs for Gravity Forms – Hero Add-On 70+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #3 18 too high 22 Cloudi7 ID Card Generator 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 ↓1 14 too high 23 ID Image Ad Popup & Roadblock 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 ↓1 14 too high 24 Academic Certificate Verification – Certificate Management & Certificate Validator 80+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #20 ↑2 4 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.