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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “wp enqueue”

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 “wp enqueue”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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

wp-forecast shows at wp.org #13 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 4K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.2★ average from 23 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) wp.org #1 ↑3 2 W WP-SCSS 40K+ · 4.3★ (61) wp.org #2 ↑5 3 WP-Polls 40K+ · 4.2★ (136) wp.org #3 ↓2 4 WP-PostRatings 20K+ · 4.4★ (178) wp.org #4 ↓2 5 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Modula Image Gallery – Photo Grid & Video Gallery 100K+ · 4.7★ (616) wp.org #8 ↓2 2 too low 7 AI-Powered Carousel, Slider, Video & Photo Gallery Blocks by WP Carousel 60K+ · 4.7★ (434) wp.org #9 2 too low 8 WP Offload SES Lite 10K+ · 4.3★ (36) wp.org #5 ↓2 3 too high 9 WP-UserOnline 10K+ · 4.6★ (38) wp.org #7 ↓2 2 too high 10 Dark Mode for WP Dashboard 3K+ · 4.8★ (34) wp.org #10 ↓2 11 WP Webhooks – Automate repetitive tasks by creating powerful automation workflows directly within WordPress 20K+ · 4.7★ (55) wp.org #12 ↓1 1 too low 12 W WP FullCalendar 8K+ · 4.7★ (96) wp.org #14 ↓1 2 too low 13 WP Performance Score Booster – Optimize Speed, Enable Cache & Page Preload 10K+ · 4.6★ (339) wp.org #21 ↓1 8 too low 14 Social Chat – Click To Chat App Button 200K+ · 4.9★ (696) wp.org #19 ↓1 5 too low 15 WP Fusion Lite – Marketing Automation and CRM Integration for WordPress 4K+ · 5.0★ (69) wp.org #15 ↓1 16 WP Console – WordPress PHP Console powered by PsySH 20K+ · 5.0★ (21) wp.org #11 ↓1 5 too high 17 WP Visitor Statistics (Real Time Traffic) 20K+ · 4.5★ (156) wp.org #20 ↓1 3 too low 18 WP Blog Post Layouts 9K+ · 4.7★ (83) wp.org #17 ↓1 1 too high 19 wp-forecast 4K+ · 4.2★ (23) wp.org #13 ↓1 6 too high 20 Advanced Custom Fields: Font Awesome Field 90K+ · 4.9★ (36) wp.org #23 3 too low 21 WPS Bookings for WooCommerce 3K+ · 4.5★ (43) wp.org #16 ↓1 5 too high 22 WP Discourse 1K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #18 ↓1 4 too high 23 WP MyLinks 1K+ · 4.0★ (14) wp.org #22 ↓1 1 too high 24 Tota11y WP 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #24

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.