Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “borders”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

VK Blocks shows at wp.org #15 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 100K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.8★ average from 6 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Hustle – Email Marketing, Lead Generation, Optins, Popups places #12 on merit, 4.4★ from 859 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #1 2 Unlimited Elements for Elementor 300K+ · 4.8★ (525) wp.org #4 ↑1 2 too low 3 WP-PageNavi 400K+ · 4.7★ (149) wp.org #3 4 Social Feed Gallery 80K+ · 4.5★ (303) wp.org #6 ↑1 2 too low 5 Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807) wp.org #7 ↓1 2 too low 6 Custom Login Page Customizer 50K+ · 4.9★ (476) wp.org #10 ↓2 4 too low 7 WP Store Locator 40K+ · 4.8★ (312) wp.org #9 ↓2 2 too low 8 Variation Swatches for WooCommerce – Color, Image & Size Swatches 200K+ · 4.6★ (51) wp.org #5 3 too high 9 Bordered Blocks – Add subtle borders or outlines and labels to Blocks in the Editor 200+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #2 7 too high 10 Email Templates Customizer and Designer for WordPress and WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.6★ (133) wp.org #8 ↑4 2 too high 11 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #16 ↓2 5 too low 12 Hustle – Email Marketing, Lead Generation, Optins, Popups 80K+ · 4.4★ (859) wp.org #18 ↑1 6 too low 13 Sticky Header Effects for Elementor 300K+ · 4.5★ (69) wp.org #11 ↓1 2 too high 14 The Icon Block 40K+ · 5.0★ (29) wp.org #12 ↑1 2 too high 15 LoginPress | wp-login Custom Login Page Customizer 200K+ · 4.8★ (1077) wp.org #21 ↑2 6 too low 16 Options for Twenty Twenty-One 6K+ · 4.9★ (64) wp.org #17 ↑1 1 too low 17 Mailonix – Email Template Customizer for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.6★ (105) wp.org #13 ↑1 4 too high 18 Image Hover Effects – Elementor Addon 40K+ · 4.9★ (83) wp.org #22 4 too low 19 Kubio AI Page Builder 80K+ · 4.4★ (79) wp.org #14 ↑1 5 too high 20 Logo Slider WP – Responsive Logo Carousel, Logo Gallery & Logo Showcase 10K+ · 4.5★ (61) wp.org #24 ↓5 4 too low 21 Organization chart 5K+ · 5.0★ (13) wp.org #20 ↑3 1 too high 22 Quantity Plus Minus Button for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.4★ (30) wp.org #19 ↑3 3 too high 23 Email Customizer for WooCommerce | Drag and Drop Email Templates Builder 9K+ · 4.3★ (44) wp.org #23 24 VK Blocks 100K+ · 4.8★ (6) wp.org #15 ↑1 9 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.