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

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 “zero”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

Zero BS Accounting shows at wp.org #6 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 18 places. Its 50+ 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

All-in-One WP Migration and Backup places #6 on merit, 4.5★ from 7676 reviews, but shows at wp.org #12. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Gravity Forms Zero Spam 100K+ · 4.3★ (24) wp.org #1 2 Jetpack CRM – Clients, Leads, Invoices, Billing, Email Marketing, & Automation 30K+ · 4.3★ (152) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Zero Spam for WordPress 20K+ · 4.1★ (143) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 ECS – Ele Custom Skin for Elementor 100K+ · 4.6★ (117) wp.org #5 ↑6 1 too low 5 WP Rollback – Rollback Plugins and Themes 200K+ · 4.9★ (215) wp.org #8 ↓1 3 too low 6 All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #12 ↓2 6 too low 7 Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4342) wp.org #10 ↓1 3 too low 8 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #14 ↑4 6 too low 9 Colibri Page Builder 80K+ · 4.4★ (80) wp.org #9 ↓3 10 Advanced IP Blocker 3K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #7 ↑6 3 too high 11 WP 2FA – Two-factor authentication for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (184) wp.org #13 ↑1 2 too low 12 FluentSnippets – High-Performance Code Snippets, Header & Footer Code, Custom CSS & PHP Code Manager 50K+ · 4.7★ (78) wp.org #11 ↑1 1 too high 13 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #15 2 too low 14 Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #20 6 too low 15 Simply Static – The Static Site Generator 30K+ · 4.5★ (195) wp.org #21 6 too low 16 Product Feed Manager for WooCommerce – CTX Feed – Support 220+ Shopping, AI & Social Channels 90K+ · 4.6★ (838) wp.org #18 ↑1 2 too low 17 Variation Swatches for WooCommerce – Color, Image & Size Swatches 200K+ · 4.6★ (51) wp.org #17 18 M Mesmerize Companion 50K+ · 4.4★ (51) wp.org #24 6 too low 19 Disable WP Notification 10K+ · 4.3★ (12) wp.org #19 ↑4 20 Honeypot Anti-Spam 10K+ · 4.7★ (12) wp.org #22 2 too low 21 Contact Form Zero 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #4 ↑1 17 too high 22 Current Year, Symbols and IP Shortcode 10K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #23 ↑1 1 too low 23 Snow Monkey Blocks 30K+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #16 7 too high 24 Zero BS Accounting 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 ↑2 18 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.