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

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 limits”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 of the top 20. 2 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

Order Limit for WooCommerce (Free Version) shows at wp.org #6 but places #14 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 800+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.2★ average from 13 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More places #9 on merit, 4.8★ from 14387 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. 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 #1 2 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #2 3 Advanced File Manager – Ultimate File Manager for WordPress And Document Library Solution 100K+ · 4.8★ (441) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Translate and boost SEO – Automatic AI translation – wpLingua 2K+ · 4.9★ (33) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869) wp.org #10 ↑3 5 too low 6 Social Media Auto Poster – Schedule & Publish to Buffer 7K+ · 4.5★ (125) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 Site Reviews 60K+ · 4.9★ (376) wp.org #16 ↓5 9 too low 8 Post Slider and Post Carousel with Post Vertical Scrolling Widget – A Responsive Post Slider 10K+ · 4.7★ (31) wp.org #8 9 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #21 12 too low 10 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #13 ↑7 3 too low 11 Limit Comments and Word Count 40+ · 4.4★ (9) wp.org #5 6 too high 12 Title Limit for WooCommerce 4K+ · 4.7★ (20) wp.org #9 3 too high 13 Blog Designer Pack – Blog, Post Grid, Post Slider, Post Carousel, Category Post, News 30K+ · 4.7★ (79) wp.org #18 ↓1 5 too low 14 Order Limit for WooCommerce (Free Version) 800+ · 4.2★ (13) wp.org #6 8 too high 15 Easy MCP AI – Connect Claude to WordPress: MCP Server for ChatGPT & AI Agents 30K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #12 ↑4 3 too high 16 Document Gallery 8K+ · 4.8★ (112) wp.org #24 8 too low 17 Post List Designer – Category Post, Recent Post, Post List 1K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #11 ↓1 6 too high 18 Count Characters, Words and Paragraphs while typing 300+ · 4.5★ (6) wp.org #15 ↓1 3 too high 19 WProofreader spell & grammar check plugin for WordPress 4K+ · 3.7★ (15) wp.org #17 ↓2 2 too high 20 Category Description for WooCommerce 700+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #14 ↓2 6 too high 21 Post Word Counter – Content Insights Dashboard 200+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #23 ↓1 2 too low 22 PuzzleMe – Interactive Puzzles for WordPress – Easily publish crosswords, quizzes, word searches and more 1K+ · 4.0★ (3) wp.org #19 ↓1 3 too high 23 WYSIWYG Character Limit for ACF 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↓1 3 too high 24 Literal Word BibleTagger 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 ↑1 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.