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

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 level”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 6 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

Growfund – Ultimate Donation & Crowdfunding Solution shows at wp.org #12 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 1.0★ average from 1 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 #1 2 JoomSport – for Sports: Team & League, Football, Hockey & more 1K+ · 4.9★ (44) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Sport Predictions for JoomSport 50+ · 4.6★ (11) wp.org #7 4 too low 4 Swipe Slider – Make dynamic slider with solid, gradient, or image background 3K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #2 2 too high 5 Gym Builder – Class Timetable & Booking for Gyms, Fitness & Yoga Studios 100+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 fitness calculators 500+ · 4.1★ (8) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 DEPRECATED – Shipmondo – A complete shipping solution for WooCommerce 4K+ · 3.0★ (8) wp.org #4 3 too high 8 USGS Steam Flow Data 100+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #15 7 too low 9 FrontBlocks Site Tools 500+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #9 10 Shipmondo for WooCommerce 1K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #6 4 too high 11 AdRoll for WooCommerce Stores 500+ · 2.5★ (10) wp.org #10 1 too high 12 Health & Fitness Calculators Suite 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 2 too low 13 Addifect — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 2 too high 14 Delowar Swipe Slider — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 2 too low 15 Anacoder Calculators – 20+ Responsive Calculators & Embed Suite — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 2 too high 16 Multi-Carrier Shipmondo Shipping for WooCommerce 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 1 too low 17 Terminy – Appointment Booking Calendar & Staff Scheduling — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 1 too low 18 Hospedajes España – HOSTPN — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 1 too low 19 Habitune — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 2 too low 20 AIO Calculators By Adittaw 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 21 sigora Area Map — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 1 too low 22 RoxyAPI: Astrology, Vedic, Forecast, Human Design, Numerology 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↑1 1 too low 23 S Sweet Sharmin Preloader — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 ↓1 1 too low 24 Growfund – Ultimate Donation & Crowdfunding Solution 100+ · 1.0★ (1) wp.org #12 12 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.