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

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 polls”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 of the top 20. 3 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

Polls CP shows at wp.org #11 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 400+ installs carry it up the search order; its 2.6★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Hustle – Email Marketing, Lead Generation, Optins, Popups places #11 on merit, 4.4★ from 859 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP-Polls 40K+ · 4.2★ (136) wp.org #1 2 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #2 3 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #3 4 Quiz Maker, Poll Maker & Survey Maker by Opinion Stage 6K+ · 4.4★ (277) wp.org #4 ↑1 5 TS Poll – Survey, Versus Poll, Image Poll, Video Poll 3K+ · 4.7★ (235) wp.org #5 ↓1 6 WP RSS Aggregator – RSS Import, Feed to Post, Autoblogging, AI Content 40K+ · 4.5★ (565) wp.org #10 ↓1 4 too low 7 Poll Maker by AYS – Versus Polls, Anonymous Polls, Image Polls 6K+ · 4.4★ (91) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 Democracy Poll 6K+ · 4.6★ (86) wp.org #7 1 too high 9 WP-PostRatings 20K+ · 4.4★ (178) wp.org #9 ↑1 10 Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807) wp.org #19 ↓4 9 too low 11 Hustle – Email Marketing, Lead Generation, Optins, Popups 80K+ · 4.4★ (859) wp.org #23 12 too low 12 Noptin – Newsletter, New Post Notifications & Email Automation 10K+ · 4.5★ (120) wp.org #14 2 too low 13 Invisible Anti-Spam & CAPTCHA — reCAPTCHA Alternative for All Forms 4K+ · 4.8★ (50) wp.org #21 ↑1 8 too low 14 WP Debugging 10K+ · 5.0★ (21) wp.org #12 2 too high 15 ePoll – Contest Poll Survey & Voting 1K+ · 3.9★ (24) wp.org #13 2 too high 16 Crowdsignal Dashboard – Polls, Surveys & more 200K+ · 2.7★ (34) wp.org #8 8 too high 17 WP Discourse 1K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #17 ↑1 18 SurveyX Builder – Survey, Poll, Quiz & Feedback Form 2K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #15 ↑1 3 too high 19 Onyx Poll 60+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #22 ↓1 3 too low 20 Polls CP 400+ · 2.6★ (5) wp.org #11 9 too high 21 pCloud WP Backup 1K+ · 2.8★ (20) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 topicPolls Pro for bbPress 200+ · 3.8★ (5) wp.org #16 ↑1 6 too high 23 WP Easy Poll 60+ · 3.3★ (4) wp.org #18 ↑1 5 too high 24 OpinionCamp – Poll Block 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 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.