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

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 “avada”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 of the top 20. 6 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

Fancy Elements for Avada shows at wp.org #2 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 400+ 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

FileBird – WordPress Media Library Folders & File Manager places #9 on merit, 4.7★ from 1125 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461) wp.org #1 2

Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too low 3

Site Reviews 60K+ · 4.9★ (376) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too low 4

SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #5 1 too low 5

Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #7 2 too low 6

Media Cleaner: Delete Unused Images & Clean Your Media Library 90K+ · 4.6★ (779) wp.org #8 2 too low 7

All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) not PHP-currentheavy footprint wp.org #6 1 too high 8

Use Any Font | Custom Font Uploader 200K+ · 4.7★ (1148) wp.org #12 4 too low 9

FileBird – WordPress Media Library Folders & File Manager 200K+ · 4.7★ (1125) wp.org #17 8 too low 10

Event Tickets and Registration 90K+ · 3.5★ (236) heavy footprint wp.org #9 1 too high 11

Directorist: AI-Powered Business Directory, Listings & Classified Ads 20K+ · 4.6★ (698) not PHP-current wp.org #19 ↑2 8 too low 12

Disable and Remove Google Fonts | GDPR & DSGVO friendly 100K+ · 4.5★ (46) heavy footprint wp.org #10 2 too high 13

Variation Swatches for WooCommerce – Color, Image & Size Swatches 200K+ · 4.6★ (51) wp.org #13 14

Transliterator – Multilingual and Multi-script Text Conversion 3K+ · 4.8★ (96) wp.org #16 ↓1 2 too low 15

oopspam Anti-Spam: Spam Protection for WordPress Forms & Comments (No CAPTCHA) 6K+ · 4.9★ (51) wp.org #18 ↑2 3 too low 16

GSheetConnector – CF7 Google Sheets Connector & Save CF7 Entries to Database 40K+ · 4.4★ (129) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #14 2 too high 17

CartFlows – Funnel Builder & Checkout Plugin for WooCommerce 200K+ · 4.8★ (517) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #21 ↑1 4 too low 18

Smart Image Resize for WooCommerce 7K+ · 4.6★ (82) wp.org #20 2 too low 19

Fancy Elements for Avada 400+ · 5.0★ (2) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #2 17 too high 20

RSS Includes Pages 10K+ · 3.9★ (17) thin reviews wp.org #11 9 too high 21

Additional Variation Images Gallery for WooCommerce 30K+ · 4.6★ (162) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #22 ↓5 1 too low 22

WPGlobus 8K+ · 4.5★ (228) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #23 1 too low 23

SilentShield – Captcha & Anti-Spam for WordPress (CF7, WPForms, Elementor, WooCommerce) 10K+ · 4.7★ (24) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #15 ↑4 8 too high 24

Friendly Captcha for WordPress 10K+ · 3.9★ (18) thin reviews wp.org #24

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.