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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “admin sidebar”

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 “admin sidebar”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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

SMK Sidebar Generator shows at wp.org #8 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.4★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Content Aware Sidebars – Fastest Widget Area Plugin places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 724 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Admin Columns 100K+ · 4.9★ (1652) wp.org #1 2 Custom Sidebars – Dynamic Sidebar Classic Widget Area Manager 100K+ · 4.7★ (1028) wp.org #7 5 too low 3 Lightweight Sidebar Manager 80K+ · 4.2★ (21) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Sidebar Login 9K+ · 4.5★ (78) wp.org #4 5 Ocean Custom Sidebar 20K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #3 2 too high 6 WP Sticky Sidebar – Floating Sidebar On Scroll for Any Theme 10K+ · 4.9★ (153) wp.org #10 4 too low 7 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #5 ↑1 2 too high 8 Advanced Sidebar Menu 10K+ · 4.5★ (37) wp.org #6 ↓1 2 too high 9 Content Aware Sidebars – Fastest Widget Area Plugin 30K+ · 4.9★ (724) wp.org #16 ↓1 7 too low 10 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #14 ↑2 4 too low 11 WP Custom Admin Interface 30K+ · 4.7★ (160) wp.org #12 1 too low 12 Admin Notices Manager 10K+ · 4.9★ (21) wp.org #11 1 too high 13 Admin Bar Editor – Toolbar Customization with User Role based access & Custom menus 3K+ · 4.4★ (24) wp.org #9 ↓1 4 too high 14 PublishPress Capabilities: User Role Access Control, Admin Area Permissions 90K+ · 4.7★ (143) wp.org #23 ↓1 9 too low 15 Genesis Simple Sidebars 10K+ · 4.4★ (27) wp.org #13 2 too high 16 Fuse Social Icons 10K+ · 4.6★ (58) wp.org #18 2 too low 17 SMK Sidebar Generator 10K+ · 4.4★ (5) wp.org #8 ↑1 9 too high 18 My WP Customize Admin/Frontend 8K+ · 4.3★ (16) wp.org #17 1 too high 19 Login Widget With Shortcode 5K+ · 3.8★ (29) wp.org #22 ↑1 3 too low 20 Ultimate Floating Widgets – Make popup sidebars 3K+ · 4.9★ (14) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 Change WordPress Admin Logo 400+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #21 22 Admin Help Docs 600+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #20 ↓1 2 too high 23 Admin Robots.txt Editor 800+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #19 ↑1 4 too high 24 Admin Sticky Sidebar 900+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 ↓1 9 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.