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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “user behaviour”

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 “user behaviour”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Init User Engine – Gamified, Fast, Frontend-First shows at wp.org #14 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 30+ 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

Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) places #11 on merit, 4.5★ from 1440 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 User Registration & Membership – Free & Paid Memberships, Subscriptions, Content Restriction, User Profile, Custom User Registration & Login Builder 50K+ · 4.8★ (832) wp.org #1 2 WP User Manager – Registration Form, Login Form, User Profile Builder & Member Directory 10K+ · 4.7★ (350) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too low 3 Login as User: See the Site as Any User 30K+ · 4.8★ (41) wp.org #2 ↑1 1 too high 4 Max Mega Menu 300K+ · 4.8★ (882) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8709) wp.org #7 ↑2 2 too low 6 User Access Manager 10K+ · 4.4★ (112) wp.org #4 2 too high 7 WP Activity Log 300K+ · 4.7★ (490) wp.org #10 ↓2 3 too low 8 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #12 ↑8 4 too low 9 Head & Footer Code 100K+ · 5.0★ (51) wp.org #9 ↑2 10 AWCA – The Great Analytics Insights for Your eStore 2K+ · 4.7★ (23) wp.org #8 ↑2 2 too high 11 Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) wp.org #19 8 too low 12 WP User Profile Restriction 500+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #5 7 too high 13 Notibar – Notification Bar for WordPress 8K+ · 4.8★ (71) wp.org #22 ↑1 9 too low 14 SilentShield – Captcha & Anti-Spam for WordPress (CF7, WPForms, Elementor, WooCommerce) 10K+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #16 ↓2 2 too low 15 HollerBox — Fast & Effective Popups & Lead-Generation 2K+ · 4.8★ (32) wp.org #17 ↓1 2 too low 16 Modern Footnotes 6K+ · 4.8★ (32) wp.org #20 ↓3 4 too low 17 D Dropdown Multisite Selector 900+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #23 ↑1 6 too low 18 CiviCRM Admin Utilities 1K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #13 ↓1 5 too high 19 FormFacade – Embed Google Forms in your website 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #11 ↑2 8 too high 20 Currency per Product for WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.1★ (17) wp.org #21 1 too low 21 Membership & User Roles for WooCommerce (Automatic Role Changer) 400+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #18 ↑3 3 too high 22 Image Converter for WebP 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 Init User Engine – Gamified, Fast, Frontend-First 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 ↑5 9 too high 24 PDF Flipbook, WPBakery Addon – Unreal FlipBook 1K+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #15 9 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.