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

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 “atomic”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

Atomic Addons – AI Website Builder for Elementor & WooCommerce shows at wp.org #6 but places #15 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 20+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Master Addons for Elementor – Elementor Addons, Widgets, Mega Menu Builder, Popup Builder, Widget Builder & Template Kits places #8 on merit, 4.5★ from 212 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 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #1 2 Animation Addons – Elementor Addons, GSAP Animations, Elementor V4 Atomic Widgets & Elementor Templates 10K+ · 4.6★ (66) wp.org #2 3 bbPress 100K+ · 3.9★ (343) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Spam Protection | Maspik 30K+ · 4.7★ (87) wp.org #8 4 too low 5 GSheetConnector – Elementor Forms Google Sheet Connector to Sync Submissions to Google Sheets 9K+ · 5.0★ (14) wp.org #5 6 Dynamic Visibility for Elementor 50K+ · 4.6★ (89) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 Atomic Edge Security – Firewall, Malware Scan and Login Security 700+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #3 4 too high 8 Master Addons for Elementor – Elementor Addons, Widgets, Mega Menu Builder, Popup Builder, Widget Builder & Template Kits 30K+ · 4.5★ (212) wp.org #16 ↓2 8 too low 9 oopspam Anti-Spam: Spam Protection for WordPress Forms & Comments (No CAPTCHA) 6K+ · 4.9★ (51) wp.org #12 3 too low 10 SMNTCS Custom Logo Link 2K+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #9 1 too high 11 AnimateGL – WebGL & CSS Scroll Animations and Hover Effects for Gutenberg and Elementor 2K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #14 3 too low 12 SilentShield – Captcha & Anti-Spam for WordPress (CF7, WPForms, Elementor, WooCommerce) 10K+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #10 ↑1 2 too high 13 DoLogin Security 7K+ · 4.5★ (13) wp.org #11 ↓1 2 too high 14 Web-Art Login Shield with reCAPTCHA 100+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #19 ↓2 5 too low 15 Atomic Addons – AI Website Builder for Elementor & WooCommerce 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #6 9 too high 16 Repeaterly – ACF Repeater, Flexible Content & Dynamic Tags for Elementor 600+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #22 ↓2 6 too low 17 Creavi Appointment Booking Calendar 90+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #24 ↓2 7 too low 18 Rino's Toolkit for Elementor 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #17 ↓2 1 too high 19 Dynamic ACF Repeater for Elementor 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #23 ↓2 4 too low 20 AI to Elementor — HTML Importer for Elementor 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #21 ↓2 1 too low 21 Advanced Custom CSS for Elementor 200+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #15 6 too high 22 Atomic Social Kit 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 9 too high 23 Atomic Slider Addons for Elementor 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↓2 3 too high 24 Feather – Elementor Performance Optimizer | Asset Cleanup, Page Speed & Database Cleanup 90+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 ↓2 6 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.