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

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 “whitespace”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

Description List Block shows at wp.org #10 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 400+ installs carry it up the search order; its 2.3★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Print My Blog – Print, PDF, & eBook Converter WordPress Plugin places #9 on merit, 4.8★ from 115 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Smart Image Resize for WooCommerce 7K+ · 4.6★ (82) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Comment Reply Email Notification 3K+ · 4.8★ (33) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Whitespace Fixer for XML Sitemap 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #1 3 too high 5 HTML Page Sitemap (Block and Shortcode) 10K+ · 4.4★ (24) wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too low 6 JCH Optimize 4K+ · 4.4★ (69) wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too low 7 WPSpeed – WordPress Speed, Cache & Performance Optimization (Core Web Vitals, PageSpeed 100) 2K+ · 4.9★ (40) wp.org #11 ↓2 4 too low 8 Easy Optimizer – PageSpeed, Cache & Core Web Vitals (Unused CSS, Delay JS, Lazy Load) 1K+ · 4.6★ (18) wp.org #9 ↑1 1 too low 9 Print My Blog – Print, PDF, & eBook Converter WordPress Plugin 8K+ · 4.8★ (115) wp.org #14 5 too low 10 CodeColorer 1K+ · 4.9★ (11) wp.org #12 ↓4 2 too low 11 Simple Export to Markdown 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #5 6 too high 12 Empty P Tag 700+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #8 ↓1 4 too high 13 Frontman – AI Website Editor 80+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #17 ↓1 4 too low 14 F12 Profiler 400+ · 4.0★ (6) wp.org #15 ↓2 1 too low 15 DoubleScale CRM | All-in-One CRM – Sales, Multi-Channel Marketing, Newsletter, Booking, Helpdesk, Automation, MCP & More 80+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #24 ↓3 9 too low 16 Preserve Code Formatting 400+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #13 ↓2 3 too high 17 Optimazz – Website Optimization and Speedup 30+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #21 4 too low 18 All in one Minifier 10+ · 3.8★ (4) wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too low 19 Description List Block 400+ · 2.3★ (3) wp.org #10 9 too high 20 C Compact Admin 80+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 ↓4 4 too high 21 RobArt Text Collector 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 ↓1 3 too high 22 Secure Owl Firewall 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 ↓5 2 too high 23 Nepal Payments for WooCommerce 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 1 too high 24 Magic optimize 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 ↓4 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.