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

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 “water”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 6 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

Smooth Custom Cursor shows at wp.org #7 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 400+ 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Affiliate Program Suite — SliceWP Affiliates 10K+ · 4.9★ (111) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 SportsPress – Sports Club & League Manager 10K+ · 4.7★ (369) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 Sina Extension for Elementor 40K+ · 4.9★ (35) wp.org #3 4 MultiVendorX – WooCommerce Multivendor Marketplace AI Powered Solutions 2K+ · 4.8★ (432) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Einsatzverwaltung 1K+ · 4.9★ (17) wp.org #5 6 Swipe Slider – Make dynamic slider with solid, gradient, or image background 3K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #1 5 too high 7 JoomSport – for Sports: Team & League, Football, Hockey & more 1K+ · 4.9★ (44) wp.org #9 ↑1 2 too low 8 Colibri Page Builder 80K+ · 4.4★ (80) wp.org #10 ↓1 2 too low 9 Slider Hero with Video Background, Animation 3K+ · 4.8★ (34) wp.org #8 ↓1 1 too high 10 Gym Builder – Class Timetable & Booking for Gyms, Fitness & Yoga Studios 100+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #17 7 too low 11 SimplyRETS Real Estate IDX 200+ · 4.9★ (8) wp.org #11 12 fitness calculators 500+ · 4.1★ (8) wp.org #12 13 Sport Predictions for JoomSport 50+ · 4.6★ (11) wp.org #18 5 too low 14 Pixel Gallery Addons for Elementor 4K+ · 4.8★ (5) wp.org #23 ↓1 9 too low 15 DEPRECATED – Shipmondo – A complete shipping solution for WooCommerce 4K+ · 3.0★ (8) wp.org #13 2 too high 16 Cursor Style & Animation 70+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #15 1 too high 17 Smooth Custom Cursor 400+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 ↑1 10 too high 18 AnWP Sports Leagues – Basketball, Ice Hockey, Handball, Rugby & More 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #19 1 too low 19 Verse of the Day Widget for WP 30+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #21 2 too low 20 A WP Life Companion 6K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 4 too high 21 Viking Bookings 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↓1 1 too high 22 Shipmondo for WooCommerce 1K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 8 too high 23 AdRoll for WooCommerce Stores 500+ · 2.5★ (10) wp.org #22 ↓1 1 too high 24 W Webshipper – Automated Shipping 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24 ↓4

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.