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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “word count”

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 “word count”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 17 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

Word Counter Plus shows at wp.org #3 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 80+ 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

Translate WordPress with GTranslate places #6 on merit, 4.9★ from 4962 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #2 ↓1 1 too low 2 Sortable Word Count Reloaded 2K+ · 3.7★ (10) wp.org #1 ↑1 1 too high 3 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #6 ↓1 3 too low 4 Translate WordPress with Weglot 2.0 – Multilingual AI Translation 50K+ · 4.8★ (1940) wp.org #14 ↓2 10 too low 5 A Advanced Excerpt 80K+ · 4.3★ (101) wp.org #9 ↓3 4 too low 6 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #18 12 too low 7 Duplicate Post 300K+ · 4.9★ (1623) wp.org #19 ↓3 12 too low 8 Relevanssi – A Better Search 100K+ · 4.8★ (406) wp.org #16 ↓1 8 too low 9 WP Bulk Delete 90K+ · 4.6★ (131) wp.org #12 ↑2 3 too low 10 Reading Time WP 20K+ · 4.8★ (20) wp.org #7 3 too high 11 Export All URLs 50K+ · 4.6★ (94) wp.org #13 ↓2 2 too low 12 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #15 ↑5 3 too low 13 Count Characters, Words and Paragraphs while typing 300+ · 4.5★ (6) wp.org #4 ↓1 9 too high 14 AddToAny Share Buttons 300K+ · 4.7★ (1114) wp.org #20 ↓1 6 too low 15 Post Admin Word Count 2K+ · 3.5★ (6) wp.org #5 ↓1 10 too high 16 Limit Comments and Word Count 40+ · 4.4★ (9) wp.org #10 ↓1 6 too high 17 Article Word Count 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #8 9 too high 18 Word Counter Plus 80+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #3 ↑10 15 too high 19 GravityWP – CSS Selector 4K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #24 5 too low 20 Post Word Counter – Content Insights Dashboard 200+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #11 ↓1 9 too high 21 S Simply Excerpts 500+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #17 4 too high 22 Reading Time 200+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #22 ↑1 23 Marbak Word Count Analytics 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↑1 24 Aims Textarea Wordcount with/without Space For Contact Form 7 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↑1 3 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.