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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “website staff roles”

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 “website staff roles”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 5 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

Kanbanz shows at wp.org #16 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 2K+ 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

SAML Single Sign On – SSO Login places #6 on merit, 4.9★ from 402 reviews, but shows at wp.org #11. 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 Contact List – Online Staff Directory & Address Book 1K+ · 4.8★ (19) wp.org #1 2 Team Members – Team Showcase, Team Slider, Grid, Table & Staff Directory 2K+ · 4.7★ (91) wp.org #2 3 Responsive Team Members Showcase, Team Grid, Team Slider, and Staff List – Smart Team (formerly WP Team) 5K+ · 4.7★ (92) wp.org #3 4 Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418) wp.org #5 ↓3 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 5 Team – Team Members Showcase Plugin 10K+ · 4.5★ (67) wp.org #4 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 6 SAML Single Sign On – SSO Login 10K+ · 4.9★ (402) wp.org #11 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 5 places below merit 7 Simply Schedule Appointments 50K+ · 5.0★ (155) wp.org #10 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 8 Appointment Booking Plugin – LatePoint | Calendar & Scheduling for WordPress 100K+ · 4.9★ (107) wp.org #9 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 9 MxChat – AI Chatbot & Content Generation for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (31) wp.org #6 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 3 places above merit 10 New User Approve 20K+ · 4.3★ (131) wp.org #8 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 11 MultiVendorX – WooCommerce Multivendor Marketplace AI Powered Solutions 2K+ · 4.8★ (432) wp.org #13 ↑2 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 12 Salon Booking System – Appointment Booking for Salons, Barbershops & Spas 2K+ · 4.4★ (187) wp.org #12 ↓1 13 Team Members Showcase 4K+ · 4.9★ (21) wp.org #7 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 6 places above merit 14 PublishPress Permissions: Access Control, Content Permissions, User Access 10K+ · 4.3★ (66) wp.org #14 ↓2 15 Staff/Employee Business Directory for Active Directory 10+ · 5.0★ (15) wp.org #17 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 16 Employee Directory – Staff & Team Directory 100+ · 4.1★ (16) wp.org #15 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 17 The School Management – Education & Learning ERP 700+ · 4.5★ (15) wp.org #19 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 18 MotoPress Appointment Booking 2K+ · 4.5★ (21) wp.org #24 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 6 places below merit 19 Rox Appointment Booking – Event, Calendar & Appointment Scheduling 2K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #18 ↓5 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 20 Bookit — Booking & Appointment Calendar 4K+ · 3.8★ (24) wp.org #23 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 21 Radius Booking – Appointment Booking Calendar & Scheduling for Services & Events 500+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #22 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 22 Comment Moderation Role by WPBeginner 200+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #20 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 23 Kanbanz 2K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 wp.org ranks it 7 places above merit 24 Digages Role Manager – User Roles & Permissions 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 wp.org ranks it 3 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.