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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “bricks widgets”

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 “bricks widgets”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 6 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

ACF Frontend Admin by DynamiApps shows at wp.org #14 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 8K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.5★ average from 160 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Max Mega Menu 300K+ · 4.8★ (882) wp.org #4 3 too low 2 Max Addons for Bricks Builder 1K+ · 4.9★ (9) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 WPVibe – MCP Server for WordPress, works with Claude, ChatGPT & other AI MCP agents 100K+ · 5.0★ (199) wp.org #6 ↓1 2 too low 5 WDesignKit – AI Templates, Widget Builder & MCP Workflow 30K+ · 4.8★ (12) wp.org #2 3 too high 6 Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418) wp.org #7 ↑1 1 too low 7 UiChemy – Convert Figma, Prompts and AI Builds to Elementor, Gutenberg and Bricks 8K+ · 5.0★ (15) wp.org #3 4 too high 8 The Plus Addons for Elementor – Mega Menu, Header Footer, Post Grid, AI Widgets & Templates 100K+ · 4.6★ (388) wp.org #9 1 too low 9 Site Reviews 60K+ · 4.9★ (376) wp.org #10 ↓3 1 too low 10 Filter Everything — WordPress & WooCommerce Filters 50K+ · 4.6★ (154) wp.org #8 ↓2 2 too high 11 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #11 ↓1 12 Addon Elements for Elementor (formerly Elementor Addon Elements) 80K+ · 4.8★ (172) wp.org #12 13 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #13 ↑2 14 Cool Timeline (Horizontal & Vertical Timeline) 20K+ · 4.7★ (333) wp.org #16 ↑1 2 too low 15 WP Armour – Honeypot Anti Spam 400K+ · 5.0★ (1471) wp.org #23 ↓2 8 too low 16 Use Any Font | Custom Font Uploader 200K+ · 4.7★ (1148) wp.org #24 ↓1 8 too low 17 Ultimate Before After Image Slider & Gallery – BEAF 30K+ · 4.9★ (107) wp.org #17 ↓4 18 Form Vibes – Save Contact Form 7 & Elementor Form Entries to Database 10K+ · 4.9★ (132) wp.org #18 19 CartFlows – Funnel Builder & Checkout Plugin for WooCommerce 200K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #15 ↑1 4 too high 20 ACF Frontend Admin by DynamiApps 8K+ · 4.5★ (160) wp.org #14 ↓3 6 too high 21 WebberZone Top 10 — Popular Posts 10K+ · 4.6★ (102) wp.org #19 2 too high 22 Location Weather – WordPress Weather Forecast, Air Quality & Weather Widget 10K+ · 4.5★ (103) wp.org #22 23 Events Shortcodes For The Events Calendar 10K+ · 4.9★ (214) wp.org #20 ↓6 3 too high 24 MxChat – AI Chatbot & Content Generation for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (31) wp.org #21 ↓1 3 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.