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

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 “wireless”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 of the top 20. 3 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

TicketSource Ticket Shop shows at wp.org #12 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 800+ 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.

Buried gem

Germanized for WooCommerce places #6 on merit, 4.8★ from 496 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 UpsellWP – Upsell and Related Products Offers for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.9★ (149) wp.org #7 6 too low 2 Affiliate Amazon Shortcode 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Geeky Bot – AI Chatbot & Sales Assistant for WooCommerce 6K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #2 ↑1 1 too high 4 GIFTiT – Free Gifts for WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.2★ (43) wp.org #4 5 AI Chatbot for WooCommerce & Live Chat – onWebChat 700+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Germanized for WooCommerce 70K+ · 4.8★ (496) wp.org #22 ↓1 16 too low 7 AI Search for WooCommerce — Semantic & Live Search 80+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #5 2 too high 8 AI Search for WooCommerce – Semantic Search 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #3 ↓1 5 too high 9 EasyCommerce – Agentic AI Ecommerce & Online Store Builder 10+ · 4.7★ (12) wp.org #15 6 too low 10 FooSales – Point of Sale (POS) for WooCommerce 600+ · 3.2★ (13) wp.org #10 11 NETbilling for WooCommerce 10+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #9 2 too high 12 Order Tags or Order Label for WooCommerce 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #11 1 too high 13 TheAVCoach Weather Station for WeatherLink 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 1 too low 14 PickingPal Lite for WooCommerce 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 6 too high 15 Digitalindo MCP for Claude AI 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 1 too low 16 Tukify — AI Shopping Assistant for WooCommerce 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 3 too high 17 Smarter Search for Products & Posts — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 18 Models3D Studio – 3D Product Viewer & Configurator for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too low 19 ecentic for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↓1 1 too low 20 UpsellPress – Advanced Post purchase Upsell Widgets & Modern cart for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↓1 1 too low 21 Digent Smart AI – Connect Site to Claude, Cursor & ChatGPT via MCP Server — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 ↑4 3 too high 22 Wireless Butler — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 1 too low 23 Mcc Automated — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 TicketSource Ticket Shop 800+ · 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.