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

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 wiki”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

Simple Side Tab shows at wp.org #13 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.8★ average from 22 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Echo Knowledge Base – Documentation, FAQs, Chat & Smart Search places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 124 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 signals wp.org

Yada Wiki 2K+ · 4.9★ (23) thin reviews wp.org #1 1 too high 3

BetterDocs – AI Documentation, Knowledge Base, MCP Server, Docs, Wikis, FAQ & Chatbot 30K+ · 4.8★ (515) heavy footprint wp.org #3 4

EazyDocs – AI Powered Knowledge Base, Wiki, Documentation & FAQ Builder 2K+ · 4.7★ (100) wp.org #4 5

weDocs: AI Powered Knowledge Base, Docs, Documentation, Wiki & AI Chatbot 5K+ · 4.6★ (69) wp.org #5 6

Knowledge Base documentation & wiki plugin – BasePress Docs 2K+ · 4.8★ (75) not PHP-currentheavy footprint wp.org #6 7

LearnPress – WordPress LMS Plugin for Create and Sell Online Courses 70K+ · 4.3★ (597) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #7 8

List category posts 80K+ · 4.7★ (254) wp.org #11 3 too low 9

Echo Knowledge Base – Documentation, FAQs, Chat & Smart Search 10K+ · 4.9★ (124) wp.org #14 ↑1 5 too low 10

WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346) wp.org #15 ↑5 5 too low 11

Zero Spam for WordPress 20K+ · 4.1★ (143) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #8 ↑1 3 too high 12

Table of Contents Plus – Automatic Table of Contents for Posts & Pages 200K+ · 4.5★ (187) wp.org #16 ↑1 4 too low 13

Multilanguage by BestWebSoft – WordPress Translation Plugin and Language Switcher 3K+ · 3.8★ (92) wp.org #12 ↑10 1 too high 14

WP Wiki Tooltip 200+ · 4.8★ (18) thin reviews wp.org #9 ↓1 5 too high 15

ReCaptcha Integration for WordPress 9K+ · 4.4★ (95) wp.org #17 ↓3 2 too low 16

User Access Manager 10K+ · 4.4★ (112) wp.org #24 ↓1 8 too low 17

Documentation – Build a Knowledge Base, Help Center or Wiki 100+ · 4.7★ (12) thin reviews wp.org #10 7 too high 18

CMB2 300K+ · 5.0★ (91) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #18 ↓2 19

AddQuicktag 100K+ · 4.7★ (44) wp.org #23 ↓2 4 too low 20

Off-Canvas Sidebars & Menus (Slidebars) 1K+ · 4.8★ (38) wp.org #21 ↓2 1 too low 21

Wikipedia Preview 1K+ · 4.8★ (37) wp.org #22 1 too low 22

Italy Cookie Choices (for EU Cookie Law & Cookie Notice) 9K+ · 4.5★ (35) wp.org #19 3 too high 23

Simple Side Tab 10K+ · 4.8★ (22) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #13 ↓1 10 too high 24

Mark Posts 1K+ · 4.8★ (10) thin reviews wp.org #20 ↓1 4 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.