Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “bold”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 16 of the top 20.

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

Bold Timeline Lite shows at wp.org #3 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 18 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Product Addons for Woocommerce – Product Options with Custom Fields places #5 on merit, 4.9★ from 474 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Bold Page Builder 40K+ · 3.6★ (66) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Bold pagos en linea 5K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Image Hover Effects – Elementor Addon 40K+ · 4.9★ (83) wp.org #10 ↑5 7 too low 4 M Mammoth .docx converter 20K+ · 4.8★ (62) wp.org #11 ↓1 7 too low 5 Product Addons for Woocommerce – Product Options with Custom Fields 30K+ · 4.9★ (474) wp.org #20 ↑2 15 too low 6 Back In Stock Notifier for WooCommerce | WooCommerce Waitlist Pro 20K+ · 4.7★ (122) wp.org #13 ↓1 7 too low 7 Smart Post – Post Grid, Post Carousel, Post Slider Gutenberg Blocks for Blog & News 20K+ · 4.7★ (210) wp.org #21 ↑2 14 too low 8 Pixel Gallery Addons for Elementor 4K+ · 4.8★ (5) wp.org #5 ↑2 3 too high 9 Icon Element – Icon Pack for Elementor Page Builder (6718 icons) 40K+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #6 ↑2 3 too high 10 Comment Reply Email Notification 3K+ · 4.8★ (33) wp.org #16 ↑2 6 too low 11 MJDD Sidrena Cijena 700+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #9 ↑5 2 too high 12 Local Fonts Uploader – Upload & Host Any Font Locally for GDPR 4K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #8 ↑3 4 too high 13 Logos Reftagger 10K+ · 4.8★ (15) wp.org #18 ↓1 5 too low 14 Disqus Comment System 30K+ · 2.7★ (219) wp.org #22 8 too low 15 KeepInMind Dashboard Notes 300+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #17 ↑2 2 too low 16 Event Countdown for The Events Calendar 3K+ · 4.6★ (48) wp.org #24 8 too low 17 Flipbox Addon for Elementor 600+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #7 ↑2 10 too high 18 Rife Extensions & Templates for Elementor 20K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #12 ↓6 6 too high 19 Override String Translations 1K+ · 3.9★ (7) wp.org #14 ↓1 5 too high 20 Futurio Extra 10K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #4 16 too high 21 Bold Timeline Lite 10K+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #3 18 too high 22 Gridable 4K+ · 2.9★ (10) wp.org #15 ↑1 7 too high 23 Simple Comment Quicktags 60+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #19 ↑1 4 too high 24 NINZ Icons for Elementor 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↑1 1 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.