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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “wordpress costs”

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 “wordpress costs”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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

Cost Calculator for Elementor shows at wp.org #11 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 500+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Internal Link Juicer: SEO Auto Linker for WordPress places #9 on merit, 4.7★ from 537 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 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27820) wp.org #1 2 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #2 3 Cost Calculator Builder 20K+ · 4.5★ (393) wp.org #3 4 AI Engine – MCP Server & AI Chatbot for WordPress, with Claude, ChatGPT & Gemini 90K+ · 4.9★ (874) wp.org #4 5 MainWP Dashboard: Self-hosted WordPress Management for Agencies 20K+ · 4.9★ (2354) wp.org #9 ↑4 4 too low 6 Translate WordPress – Google Language Translator 100K+ · 4.7★ (620) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 Filter Everything — WordPress & WooCommerce Filters 50K+ · 4.6★ (154) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 Cost of Goods: Product Cost & Profit Calculator for WooCommerce 9K+ · 4.7★ (41) wp.org #5 3 too high 9 Internal Link Juicer: SEO Auto Linker for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (537) wp.org #14 ↓2 5 too low 10 MxChat – AI Chatbot & Content Generation for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (31) wp.org #7 3 too high 11 Simple Shopping Cart 10K+ · 4.6★ (215) wp.org #12 ↑6 1 too low 12 Business Directory Plugin – Easy Listing & Member Directories for WordPress 10K+ · 4.6★ (504) wp.org #16 4 too low 13 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #18 ↓4 5 too low 14 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #17 ↓2 3 too low 15 Stylish Cost Calculator – Quote Generator, Lead Gen & Price Estimator 1K+ · 4.8★ (175) wp.org #20 5 too low 16 Live Composer – Free WordPress Website Builder 10K+ · 4.4★ (212) wp.org #22 6 too low 17 Meta pixel for WordPress 400K+ · 2.7★ (164) wp.org #10 7 too high 18 WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (583) wp.org #21 3 too low 19 Speculative Loading 70K+ · 5.0★ (18) wp.org #24 5 too low 20 Trusona for WordPress 400+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #23 3 too low 21 AR for WordPress 300+ · 4.6★ (10) wp.org #15 ↑2 6 too high 22 Cost Calculator for Contact Form 7 – Price Calculator Free 5K+ · 3.8★ (15) wp.org #13 ↓2 9 too high 23 Cost Calculator for Elementor 500+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #11 ↓2 12 too high 24 Cost Calculator & Cost Estimation 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #19 5 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.