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

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 “yearly”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 7 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

noindex SEO shows at wp.org #11 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 3K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Sequential Order Number for WooCommerce places #11 on merit, 4.9★ from 146 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 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #2 ↑2 1 too low 2 Simple Yearly Archive 6K+ · 4.7★ (30) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 WP Armour – Honeypot Anti Spam 400K+ · 5.0★ (1471) wp.org #5 ↑2 2 too low 4 WP Store Locator 40K+ · 4.8★ (312) wp.org #8 4 too low 5 Smart Archive Page Remove 6K+ · 4.9★ (59) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 EventON – Events Calendar 6K+ · 4.1★ (44) wp.org #3 ↑2 3 too high 7 Daily Prayer Time 1K+ · 4.9★ (96) wp.org #10 3 too low 8 Custom Order Numbers for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.2★ (25) wp.org #4 ↓1 4 too high 9 Tutor LMS – eLearning and online course solution 100K+ · 4.4★ (590) wp.org #21 ↓10 12 too low 10 WP Datepicker 6K+ · 4.8★ (37) wp.org #14 4 too low 11 Sequential Order Number for WooCommerce 50K+ · 4.9★ (146) wp.org #24 13 too low 12 User Posts Limit 3K+ · 5.0★ (13) wp.org #12 ↑1 13 Noptin – Newsletter, New Post Notifications & Email Automation 10K+ · 4.5★ (120) wp.org #17 ↑6 4 too low 14 Compact Archives 2K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #13 ↓1 1 too high 15 One Stop Shop for WooCommerce 10K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #6 9 too high 16 Linguise – AI Automatic Multilingual Translation 1K+ · 4.9★ (31) wp.org #23 ↓2 7 too low 17 Subscriptions for WooCommerce with Stripe Recurring Payments 1K+ · 4.9★ (25) wp.org #22 ↑2 5 too low 18 Pricing Table – Responsive & Easy 3K+ · 4.2★ (26) wp.org #16 ↓1 2 too high 19 Category Archives Block 900+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #9 10 too high 20 Simple Google Calendar Outlook Events Widget 1K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #18 ↓2 2 too high 21 Flexible Subscriptions 1K+ · 4.6★ (9) wp.org #15 ↑5 6 too high 22 Buy Me a Coffee – Button and Widget Plugin 6K+ · 3.8★ (18) wp.org #19 ↓2 3 too high 23 noindex SEO 3K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #11 ↑3 12 too high 24 VikRentItems Flexible Rental Management System 600+ · 4.0★ (8) wp.org #20 ↓2 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.