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← Rankings

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

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 “bottom”, we agree with wp.org 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Tambar – Bottom Admin Bar shows at wp.org #8 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 100+ 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

Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense places #7 on merit, 4.9★ from 1463 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP Bottom Menu 20K+ · 4.5★ (23) wp.org #1 2 Fixed Bottom Menu 4K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #2 3 Simple Banner – Easily add multiple Banners/Bars/Notifications/Announcements to the top or bottom of your website 50K+ · 4.8★ (45) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #17 13 too low 5 WPFront Notification Bar 40K+ · 4.5★ (131) wp.org #10 ↑1 5 too low 6 Bottom Admin Toolbar 1K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #3 3 too high 7 Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense 90K+ · 4.9★ (1463) wp.org #21 14 too low 8 Carousel Slider Block for Gutenberg 50K+ · 4.8★ (59) wp.org #12 ↑1 4 too low 9 Email Templates Customizer and Designer for WordPress and WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.6★ (133) wp.org #15 ↑6 6 too low 10 Head, Footer and Post Injections 200K+ · 4.9★ (735) wp.org #23 ↓1 13 too low 11 Header Footer Code Manager 600K+ · 4.9★ (309) wp.org #18 ↑1 7 too low 12 PRyC WP: Add custom content to post and page (top/bottom) 1K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #7 5 too high 13 UnoDock – Mobile Bottom Navigation 700+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #5 8 too high 14 Easy Footnotes 8K+ · 4.8★ (33) wp.org #20 6 too low 15 MC4WP: Mailchimp Top Bar – Email Subscribe Notification Bar 6K+ · 4.6★ (31) wp.org #22 ↑1 7 too low 16 Floating Ads Bottom 2K+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #9 ↑1 7 too high 17 P Product Categories/Tags Bottom Description for WooCommerce 3K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #6 11 too high 18 Simple Chat Button 40K+ · 4.8★ (14) wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too low 19 VK Post Author Display 10K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #13 ↑1 6 too high 20 TinyBar – Display notification bar, banner, announcement at the top or bottom of your website 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #16 4 too high 21 Tambar – Bottom Admin Bar 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 ↑1 13 too high 22 Bekero Mobile Bottom Menu 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 ↑1 11 too high 23 WooCommerce Payfast Gateway 30K+ · 3.0★ (7) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 WCBoost – Products Compare 30K+ · 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.