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

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 import”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

Advanced Import shows at wp.org #8 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 80K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.4★ average from 7 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP All Import – Product Import for WooCommerce places #12 on merit, 4.7★ from 276 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. 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★ (27821) wp.org #1 2 TablePress – Tables in WordPress made easy 600K+ · 5.0★ (4625) wp.org #2 3 WP All Import – Drag & Drop Import for CSV, XML, Excel & Google Sheets 100K+ · 4.7★ (1966) wp.org #3 4 Import and export users and customers 70K+ · 4.7★ (259) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too low 5 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #10 5 too low 6 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #13 ↑1 7 too low 7 WordPress Importer 2M+ · 3.1★ (327) wp.org #4 3 too high 8 Export and Import Users and Customers 50K+ · 4.8★ (442) wp.org #9 1 too low 9 Customizer Export/Import 100K+ · 4.8★ (115) wp.org #11 2 too low 10 One Click Demo Import 1M+ · 4.3★ (79) wp.org #6 ↓1 4 too high 11 WP Import Export Lite 40K+ · 4.0★ (113) wp.org #12 ↑1 1 too low 12 WP All Import – Product Import for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.7★ (276) wp.org #20 8 too low 13 WPCode – Insert Headers and Footers + Custom Code Snippets – WordPress Code Manager 3M+ · 4.9★ (1915) wp.org #22 9 too low 14 Order Export & Order Import for WooCommerce 50K+ · 4.7★ (337) wp.org #14 ↑1 15 Product Import Export for WooCommerce – CSV Product Importer & Exporter 80K+ · 4.6★ (413) wp.org #15 ↓3 16 Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205) wp.org #21 ↑2 5 too low 17 WP All Import – Import Add-On for ACF 50K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #7 10 too high 18 Comments Import & Export 2K+ · 4.9★ (68) wp.org #23 ↓1 5 too low 19 Import Users from CSV 10K+ · 4.1★ (44) wp.org #18 1 too high 20 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #24 ↓3 4 too low 21 Advanced Import 80K+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #8 13 too high 22 Import / Export Customizer Settings 50K+ · 4.7★ (6) wp.org #19 3 too high 23 WP All Import – Import SEO Settings for Rank Math SEO 6K+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #16 7 too high 24 Ansar Import – One Click Starter Sites – for WordPress Themes 10K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 7 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.