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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “wc order”

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 “wc order”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

WC Search Orders By Product shows at wp.org #16 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 800+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WCFM Marketplace – Multivendor Marketplace for WooCommerce places #6 on merit, 4.6★ from 449 reviews, but shows at wp.org #13. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

How this rank is calculated

Each plugin's merit score multiplies these inputs together: how recently it was updated, how current its "tested up to" WordPress version is, its install base (log scale, capped at 10 million), its support thread resolution rate, and a rating score. The rating score weights the star average by review volume against a sitewide prior, then scales it by the lower bound of the share of 4 and 5 star reviews. A plugin with 3.7 stars from tens of thousands of reviews can still outscore a 4.9 with a few dozen, because the small sample carries less certainty.

A health factor between 0.4 and 1.15 then adjusts that score for what wp.org's search can't see: PHP fatals or failed activations on a test install, PHP and WordPress compatibility, memory and page-speed footprint, suspicious review patterns, closure risk, and a large install base with very few reviews. Clean, adopted plugins earn a small lift.

A keyword ranking starts from wp.org's search order for the term, weighting each position by 1 divided by its place, then applies the merit correction and health factor above. Relevance to the keyword stays in the result, so the order can differ from the all-categories list on /best, which scores plugins with no search term.

Hover a row to see the main reason for its position.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WC Cancel Order 5K+ · 4.9★ (23) wp.org #1 2 OneClick Chat to Order 30K+ · 4.8★ (84) wp.org #3 ↑3 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 3 WCFM – Frontend Manager for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.5★ (286) wp.org #5 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 4 Custom Order Numbers for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.2★ (25) wp.org #4 ↓2 5 Custom Order Status Manager for WooCommerce 30K+ · 4.7★ (117) wp.org #9 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 4 places below merit 6 WCFM Marketplace – Multivendor Marketplace for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.6★ (449) wp.org #13 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 7 places below merit 7 WC Vendors – WooCommerce Multivendor, WooCommerce Marketplace, Product Vendors 3K+ · 4.5★ (188) wp.org #10 ↓3 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 8 WC Minimum Order Amount 3K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #2 wp.org ranks it 6 places above merit 9 WC Fields Factory 7K+ · 4.3★ (168) wp.org #11 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 10 WC – APG NIF/CIF/NIE Field 10K+ · 4.8★ (23) wp.org #8 ↓3 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 11 WCFM Membership – WooCommerce Memberships for Multivendor Marketplace 10K+ · 4.0★ (25) wp.org #6 wp.org ranks it 5 places above merit 12 WC Hide Shipping Methods 20K+ · 4.2★ (44) wp.org #12 ↓2 13 Place Order Without Payment for WooCommerce 3K+ · 4.8★ (20) wp.org #17 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 4 places below merit 14 Order Tracker for WooCommerce – Track Customer Order 900+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #7 ↓3 wp.org ranks it 7 places above merit 15 WC Multiple Email Recipients 4K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #14 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 16 WC – APG Weight Shipping 6K+ · 4.3★ (49) wp.org #24 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 8 places below merit 17 GSheetConnector – WooCommerce Google Sheets Connector, Export Orders & Products to Google Sheets in Real-Time 3K+ · 5.0★ (16) wp.org #23 wp.org ranks it 6 places below merit 18 Sequential Order Numbers for WooCommerce 900+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #22 wp.org ranks it 4 places below merit 19 Custom Order Status for WooCommerce 10K+ · 3.3★ (32) wp.org #20 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 20 Order Tip for WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.3★ (16) wp.org #21 ↓6 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 21 Order Limit for WooCommerce (Free Version) 800+ · 4.2★ (13) wp.org #18 wp.org ranks it 3 places above merit 22 Order Splitter for WooCommerce 300+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #15 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 7 places above merit 23 WC Order Analytics Add-on Plugin 80+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #19 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 4 places above merit 24 WC Search Orders By Product 800+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #16 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 8 places above merit

Merit ranking caps the install boost at 10M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted 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.