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

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 “votes”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 5 of the top 20. 3 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

Rate Star Review Vote – AJAX Reviews, Votes, Star Ratings shows at wp.org #15 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 30+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Customer Reviews for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (1539) wp.org #1 2 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 WP ULike – Like Buttons, Voting & Engagement Analytics 60K+ · 4.8★ (283) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too low 4 YOP Poll 10K+ · 4.4★ (452) wp.org #5 ↓3 1 too low 5 Rate My Post – Star Rating Plugin by FeedbackWP 20K+ · 4.7★ (159) wp.org #3 ↑1 2 too high 6 WP-Polls 40K+ · 4.2★ (136) wp.org #6 7 WP-PostRatings 20K+ · 4.4★ (178) wp.org #7 8 EWWW Image Optimizer 1M+ · 4.8★ (1842) wp.org #10 ↑2 2 too low 9 Contest Gallery – Upload & Vote Photos, Media, Sell with PayPal & Stripe 1K+ · 4.4★ (89) wp.org #8 1 too high 10 kk Star Ratings – Rate Post & Collect User Feedbacks 70K+ · 3.9★ (171) wp.org #9 1 too high 11 TS Poll – Survey, Versus Poll, Image Poll, Video Poll 3K+ · 4.7★ (235) wp.org #12 ↓1 1 too low 12 Democracy Poll 6K+ · 4.6★ (86) wp.org #11 ↓1 1 too high 13 WP Recipe Maker 50K+ · 5.0★ (356) wp.org #16 ↓2 3 too low 14 Poll Maker by AYS – Versus Polls, Anonymous Polls, Image Polls 6K+ · 4.4★ (91) wp.org #14 ↑1 15 SportsPress – Sports Club & League Manager 10K+ · 4.7★ (369) wp.org #22 7 too low 16 Like Button Rating ♥ LikeBtn 3K+ · 4.4★ (273) wp.org #18 2 too low 17 IdeaPush 700+ · 4.5★ (31) wp.org #13 4 too high 18 GD Rating System 1K+ · 4.3★ (24) wp.org #21 3 too low 19 bbPress Voting 400+ · 4.7★ (10) wp.org #20 1 too low 20 SOGO Accessibility 5K+ · 4.1★ (8) wp.org #23 3 too low 21 SurveyX Builder – Survey, Poll, Quiz & Feedback Form 2K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #17 4 too high 22 Rate Star Review Vote – AJAX Reviews, Votes, Star Ratings 30+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 ↑1 7 too high 23 WP Voting Contest Lite 400+ · 3.1★ (15) wp.org #19 4 too high 24 Polls CP 400+ · 2.6★ (5) wp.org #24

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.