Why doesn’t ChatGPT suggest my plugin?

What a plugin suggestion looks like

When ChatGPT decides a plugin could help, it searches for one with a query it writes itself. It often adds brand names it already knows: for a question about CRM deals, it searched for “CRM Salesforce HubSpot deals opportunities”. Then it shows a card titled “ChatGPT needs to use a plugin” with one to five plugins in order, each with Install and Not now buttons.

The card comes up most when people ask which plugin to use. Asked to do a task, ChatGPT more often does the job itself with web search, code or image generation, or names a plugin in the text of its answer.

Which ChatGPT plan and mode show plugin cards

The mode matters even more than the question. We ran the same requests on a free account and on a paid one.

• Free plan, default mode. ChatGPT showed a plugin card in about 2 of 50 answers. The rest of the time it named apps in its reply, searched the web or did the job itself. The plugin tool is there: when we asked it outright to search and suggest a plugin, a card appeared.
• Paid plan, thinking mode. About 15 of 50 answers came with a card, often with several plugins in order.

Most people use ChatGPT on the free plan in the default mode. For them a plugin shows up, if at all, as a name in the reply, without an Install button next to it.

On any plan, a card needs a search result first. So we looked at the search.

The test: asking ChatGPT to find plugins by name

We picked plugins at random from the directory, asked ChatGPT to search for each one by its exact name, and then asked it to list every result its search returned. If ChatGPT can suggest a plugin, a search for its exact name should find it.

For most of them the search came back empty, or returned other plugins with a similar word in their names. The plugin we asked for wasn’t there.

Top-ranked plugins were missing too

The misses weren’t only small or new plugins. Plugins in the top 5 of their category, shown on the directory home page, didn’t come back either.

And when ChatGPT does suggest plugins, it doesn’t pick the directory’s leaders:

The directory’s top plugins for “hotels” and “crm” stayed out of the card. The card doesn’t follow the order you see in directory search.

The same names, whatever the topic

Broad searches gave the clearest picture. They return dozens of plugins, and the same names keep coming back. A search for EV charging stations returned data tools and e-signature apps, and no charging plugin.

Within that set, the search matches by meaning. A search for “AI notetaker for in-person meetings” returned Otter.ai, Read AI, Fireflies, Granola and Fathom. Outside it, there is nothing to find.

ChatGPT’s plugin search covers a limited pool. By our estimate it holds a few hundred of the more than 5,000 plugins in the directory, and a plugin outside the pool never appears in a suggestion card.

How ChatGPT decides which plugins to suggest

A developer asked OpenAI on X how plugins get recommended in conversations. Max Stoiber, who works on plugins at OpenAI, answered:

Conversion is how many of the people who see your plugin install it. Active usage is how often they call it, and retention is whether they keep coming back. The same three factors rank plugins in directory search and in chat. His advice: make something people want to use again.

That fits our tests. The plugins that came back for almost any search belong to big brands with millions of customers, like Tripadvisor, Salesforce and Calendly. Most plugins we tried didn’t come back even for their own name.

So nobody picks the pool by hand, and a better name or tagline alone won’t put you in it. OpenAI’s rules for plugin developers point the same way. Plugins with strong real-world utility and high user satisfaction:

“may be eligible for enhanced distribution opportunities, such as directory placement or proactive suggestions”

OpenAI, plugin guidelines

Check if ChatGPT can suggest your plugin

1. Start a new chat in thinking mode, which follows the instructions most closely.
2. Send: Search the ChatGPT plugin directory with exactly this query: "Your Plugin Name". Use only that query, and don't suggest or install anything.
3. Then send: What exactly did your plugin search return? List every plugin from the search results in the exact order you received them. One per line, numbered, names only.

If your plugin comes first, it’s in the pool. An empty list, or a list of other plugins, means ChatGPT can’t suggest yours yet. Run the same check for two or three competitors to see who in your area is in.

How to get your plugin into the pool

Work on the three things OpenAI ranks by. All three come from real users, so no listing trick moves them.

• Conversion: turn views into installs. Your listing page decides whether people install. Show the job in the name, tagline and example prompts, and say what the plugin connects to and what it can change. Link to it from your app, onboarding emails and help docs: your own customers are the easiest installs.
• Active usage: make the first run work. A failed sign-in or an error on the first call loses the user before they see any value.
• Retention: own one frequent job. People come back every week to a plugin that does one job they need often. One that does many things once gets tried and forgotten.

Repeat the check every few weeks to see when your plugin gets in.

Once you’re in: how to get picked

• Describe the job in plain words. ChatGPT matches plugins by meaning, so say what the plugin does in the words your users would type.
• Make your brand known outside ChatGPT. ChatGPT adds brands it knows to its search query, and for “which plugin” questions it often checks the web first, including OpenAI’s own plugin pages.
• Judge by repeated checks. ChatGPT writes a new search query each time, so the same question can bring a different card. Look at how often you appear across several runs.

What to do in the meantime

Most people who find a plugin today find it in directory search, and directory search is open to every plugin. Put the words your users search into your name and tagline, then track your positions. Start with why your ChatGPT plugin isn’t showing up in search.