Plugin Pulse
← Rankings

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

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 “wpautop”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 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 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

Just Output shows at wp.org #2 but places #15 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 200+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Lightweight Accordion places #12 on merit, 5.0★ from 60 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Empty P Tag 700+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #1 2 Enlighter – Customizable Syntax Highlighter 10K+ · 4.8★ (65) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 Tabby Responsive Tabs 10K+ · 4.9★ (144) wp.org #8 5 too low 4 Clearfy Cache – WordPress optimization plugin, Minify HTML, CSS & JS, Defer 40K+ · 4.7★ (339) wp.org #9 5 too low 5 D Display custom fields in the frontend – Post and User Profile Fields 500+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #3 2 too high 6 Custom Field Template 30K+ · 4.0★ (24) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 Timed Content 5K+ · 4.6★ (41) wp.org #7 8 My Calendar – Accessible Event Manager 20K+ · 4.7★ (159) wp.org #15 7 too low 9 Advanced Editor Tools 1M+ · 4.5★ (354) wp.org #13 4 too low 10 Simple Share Buttons Adder 40K+ · 4.3★ (627) wp.org #21 11 too low 11 S SFN Easy FAQ Manager 2K+ · 4.4★ (12) wp.org #6 5 too high 12 Lightweight Accordion 10K+ · 5.0★ (60) wp.org #24 12 too low 13 Toggle wpautop 9K+ · 4.9★ (32) wp.org #16 3 too low 14 Bootstrap Shortcodes 4K+ · 5.0★ (23) wp.org #22 8 too low 15 Just Output 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #2 13 too high 16 Advanced Posts Blocks 200+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #19 3 too low 17 oik-css 20+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #12 5 too high 18 M Manage WPAutoP 70+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 8 too high 19 Bristlecone Markdown — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 5 too high 20 Remove Blank P Tag 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 9 too high 21 V Vectoron — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 4 too high 22 Chimy's AI Coding Lab — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 4 too high 23 Product Brand Additional Tab for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 3 too high 24 Monetize Me — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 1 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.