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← Rankings

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

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 “annotate”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 4 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

Previu – Visual Client Feedback for Elementor shows at wp.org #11 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 40+ 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Marker.io – Visual Website Feedback 4K+ · 5.0★ (44) wp.org #2 ↑1 1 too low 2 Interactive Image Map Plugin – Draw Attention 20K+ · 4.9★ (114) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too low 3 Interactive Image Map Builder 1K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 Vision – Interactive Image Map with Hotspots Builder 2K+ · 4.9★ (9) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Online Forms — Customizable Payment, Contact, Quiz, Survey Form Builder – Jotform 20K+ · 3.2★ (29) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 ScreenGlow Image Editor – Beautify, Mockup, Annotate, and Edit Images and Screenshots 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #1 5 too high 7 Tota11y WP 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #4 3 too high 8 Nexter Extension – Security, Performance, Code Snippets & Site Toolkit 10K+ · 4.7★ (13) wp.org #12 ↑1 4 too low 9 Squad Modules Lite – Free Divi 5 & Divi 4 Modules for Divi Builder 1K+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #15 6 too low 10 Site Notes: Site Feedback, Site Notes with Sitewide Visual Commenting 20+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #14 4 too low 11 Userback 1K+ · 3.6★ (9) wp.org #10 ↓1 1 too high 12 Document Embedder Addons for Elementor – Embed Documents in Elementor Websites 6K+ · 3.7★ (7) wp.org #9 ↑1 3 too high 13 Custom Fields Account Registration For Woocommerce 700+ · 3.7★ (6) wp.org #13 ↓1 14 Scry Search: Meilisearch for WordPress 40+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #19 5 too low 15 Easy IP Blocker 400+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 7 too high 16 demon image annotation 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #18 2 too low 17 Annotix – Visual Website Feedback & Annotation 70+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 1 too high 18 DocumentCloud 1K+ · 4.0★ (1) wp.org #17 1 too high 19 Previu – Visual Client Feedback for Elementor 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 8 too high 20 Scrutoscope – WordPress Performance Profiler 70+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 1 too low 21 Semantika AI Discovery Surfaces 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 2 too low 22 Content Lifecycle Manager 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 WebYes WP Accessibility Checker – Easily Discover ADA & WCAG Compliance Gaps 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 3 too high 24 Olark Live Chat 1K+ · 2.5★ (2) wp.org #22 2 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.