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← Rankings

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

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 “anywhere”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 of the top 20. 3 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

Wbcom Designs – BuddyPress Post from Anywhere shows at wp.org #6 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 80+ 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

WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More places #9 on merit, 4.8★ from 14387 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Dynific Addons for Elementor (formerly Anywhere Elementor) 70K+ · 4.8★ (104) wp.org #1 2 Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense 90K+ · 4.9★ (1463) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #4 ↓1 5 My Calendar – Accessible Event Manager 20K+ · 4.7★ (159) wp.org #5 ↓1 6 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #12 ↓1 6 too low 7 Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) wp.org #9 ↑7 2 too low 8 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #15 ↓5 7 too low 9 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #19 ↓2 10 too low 10 Spotlight Social Photo Feed 50K+ · 4.7★ (171) wp.org #13 ↓1 3 too low 11 Translate WordPress – Google Language Translator 100K+ · 4.7★ (620) wp.org #17 ↓2 6 too low 12 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #20 ↓1 8 too low 13 Simply Static – The Static Site Generator 30K+ · 4.5★ (195) wp.org #16 ↓2 3 too low 14 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #24 10 too low 15 Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4342) wp.org #22 7 too low 16 Print Anywhere & Create PDFs of Order Receipts, Invoices, Labels & More. 1K+ · 4.7★ (18) wp.org #7 ↓1 9 too high 17 Header Footer Code Manager 600K+ · 4.9★ (309) wp.org #23 6 too low 18 WP Plugin Info Card – Showcase Beautiful Plugin, Theme, and GitHub Cards Anywhere 400+ · 5.0★ (23) wp.org #18 19 Pinpoint Booking System – Legacy version 2K+ · 3.6★ (185) wp.org #21 2 too low 20 WP Anywhere Widgets 700+ · 4.8★ (4) wp.org #10 ↓2 10 too high 21 Wbcom Designs – BuddyPress Post from Anywhere 80+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 ↓1 15 too high 22 Show template by shortcode for Elementor 200+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 ↓1 14 too high 23 Show Certificates Anywhere for LearnDash 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 ↓2 12 too high 24 Icons Font Loader – use web icons anywhere on your site, fast 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 ↓1 10 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.