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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “write field”

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 “write field”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Git it Write – Write posts from GitHub shows at wp.org #11 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.7★ average from 7 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Meta Field Block – Display Custom Fields for ACF, Meta Box and More 10K+ · 5.0★ (57) wp.org #1 2 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7520) wp.org #5 ↓1 2 too low 4 Custom Field Template 30K+ · 4.0★ (24) wp.org #2 2 too high 5 Secure Custom Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (69) wp.org #4 ↑4 1 too high 6 Advanced Product Fields (Product Addons) for WooCommerce 50K+ · 4.8★ (284) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #9 ↓3 2 too low 8 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #6 2 too high 9 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27820) wp.org #12 3 too low 10 Conditional Fields for Contact Form 7 100K+ · 4.8★ (166) wp.org #8 ↓3 2 too high 11 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #13 ↓2 2 too low 12 AI Engine – MCP Server & AI Chatbot for WordPress, with Claude, ChatGPT & Gemini 90K+ · 4.9★ (874) wp.org #15 ↑1 3 too low 13 Product Feed PRO for WooCommerce by AdTribes – Product Feeds for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.7★ (1072) wp.org #20 ↓1 7 too low 14 Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #18 ↓3 4 too low 15 WPVibe – MCP Server for WordPress, works with Claude, ChatGPT & other AI MCP agents 100K+ · 5.0★ (199) wp.org #16 ↓2 1 too low 16 Site Reviews 60K+ · 4.9★ (376) wp.org #22 ↓2 6 too low 17 WP Store Locator 40K+ · 4.8★ (312) wp.org #24 7 too low 18 ACF Field For CF7 10K+ · 4.7★ (11) wp.org #10 ↓1 8 too high 19 Easy MCP AI – Connect Claude to WordPress: MCP Server for ChatGPT & AI Agents 30K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #17 2 too high 20 Enable Abilities for MCP 5K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too high 21 Royal MCP – Secure AI Connector for Claude, ChatGPT & any LLM via MCP 10K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #14 ↓1 7 too high 22 Git it Write – Write posts from GitHub 100+ · 4.7★ (7) wp.org #11 ↓1 11 too high 23 Web Directory plugin Free – AI powered 300+ · 4.1★ (20) wp.org #23 ↓2 24 Weather Write 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↑1 3 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.