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← Rankings

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

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 “weight”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 of the top 20. 4 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

USPS Simple Shipping for Woocommerce shows at wp.org #13 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 8K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.4★ average from 28 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Max Mega Menu places #9 on merit, 4.8★ from 882 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Weight Based Shipping for WooCommerce 50K+ · 4.6★ (83) wp.org #1 2 Weight Based Shipping Table Rate for WooCommerce – Flexible Shipping 100K+ · 4.9★ (706) wp.org #2 3 Relevanssi – A Better Search 100K+ · 4.8★ (406) wp.org #7 4 too low 4 Converter for Media – Optimize images | Convert WebP & AVIF 500K+ · 4.9★ (1106) wp.org #8 ↓2 4 too low 5 Cart Weight for WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (13) wp.org #3 ↑1 2 too high 6 Smush – Image Optimization, Compression, Lazy Load, WebP & CDN 1M+ · 4.8★ (6053) wp.org #14 ↑4 8 too low 7 WC – APG Weight Shipping 6K+ · 4.3★ (49) wp.org #4 ↓1 3 too high 8 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #11 ↑1 3 too low 9 Max Mega Menu 300K+ · 4.8★ (882) wp.org #19 ↓4 10 too low 10 UsersWP – Front-end login form, User Registration, User Profile & Members Directory plugin for WP 20K+ · 4.7★ (183) wp.org #15 ↓2 5 too low 11 Gold Price Based on Weight 300+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #5 6 too high 12 WowShipping – Table Rate & Weight Based Shipping 700+ · 5.0★ (25) wp.org #6 ↑2 6 too high 13 Filter Everything — WordPress & WooCommerce Filters 50K+ · 4.6★ (154) wp.org #16 ↓6 3 too low 14 OMGF | GDPR/DSGVO Compliant, Faster Google Fonts. Easy. 300K+ · 4.7★ (213) wp.org #17 ↓3 3 too low 15 Custom Shipping Methods for WooCommerce – Create Weight based Shipping, Conditional Shipping, Table Rate Shipping and much more 3K+ · 4.8★ (18) wp.org #9 6 too high 16 morkva UA Shipping – Nova Poshta, Ukrposhta, Rozetka, Nova Global 1K+ · 4.9★ (29) wp.org #12 4 too high 17 Advanced Free Shipping for WooCommerce 40K+ · 4.8★ (122) wp.org #21 4 too low 18 Weight zone shipping for WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #10 ↑1 8 too high 19 Table Rate Shipping for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.5★ (74) wp.org #22 ↓5 3 too low 20 Page Builder: Pagelayer – Drag and Drop website builder 400K+ · 3.9★ (104) wp.org #18 ↓2 2 too high 21 Shipping Live Rates for USPS for WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.7★ (30) wp.org #20 1 too high 22 USPS Simple Shipping for Woocommerce 8K+ · 4.4★ (28) wp.org #13 9 too high 23 Codiepress Advanced Rule Based Shipping for WooCommerce, Table Rate Shipping Methods, Weight Based Shipping 100+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #24 ↓5 1 too low 24 Weight Products for WooCommerce 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 1 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.