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

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 filter”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 16 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

Word Counter Plus shows at wp.org #5 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 16 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

Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 3221 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 HUSKY – Products Filter for WooCommerce Professional. MCP is onboard 80K+ · 4.6★ (337) wp.org #1 2 Ajax Search Lite – Live Search & Filter 70K+ · 4.8★ (266) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 Content Views – Post Grid & Filter (Shortcode, Blocks, Elementor Widgets) 100K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #6 3 too low 4 Relevanssi – A Better Search 100K+ · 4.8★ (406) wp.org #7 ↑3 3 too low 5 Word Balloon 10K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #2 3 too high 6 M Message Filter for Contact Form 7 1K+ · 4.9★ (13) wp.org #3 3 too high 7 AI Engine – MCP Server & AI Chatbot for WordPress, with Claude, ChatGPT & Gemini 90K+ · 4.9★ (874) wp.org #12 5 too low 8 The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461) wp.org #10 ↓5 2 too low 9 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #14 ↓1 5 too low 10 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #16 ↓4 6 too low 11 Beautiful taxonomy filters 2K+ · 4.9★ (68) wp.org #8 ↓1 3 too high 12 WP Armour – Honeypot Anti Spam 400K+ · 5.0★ (1472) wp.org #17 5 too low 13 annasta Filters for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.8★ (44) wp.org #9 ↓1 4 too high 14 Orphans 50K+ · 5.0★ (164) wp.org #19 ↓3 5 too low 15 Advanced Woo Search – Product Search for WooCommerce 60K+ · 4.8★ (248) wp.org #21 ↓7 6 too low 16 Site Reviews 60K+ · 4.9★ (376) wp.org #24 ↓4 8 too low 17 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #20 ↑3 3 too low 18 Dynamic AJAX Product Filters for WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #11 ↓2 7 too high 19 LukasApps CAPTCHA tools for Contact Form 7 100K+ · 4.1★ (48) wp.org #23 ↓1 4 too low 20 Post Grid Master — Post Grids & AJAX Filters 1K+ · 4.5★ (13) wp.org #18 2 too high 21 Word Counter Plus 80+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #5 ↑14 16 too high 22 Content Censor 600+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #13 ↓2 9 too high 23 All Users Filter 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 8 too high 24 Spam Word Blocker 70+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 2 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.