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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “browser color”

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 “browser color”, 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

Browser Theme Color – Address Bar Color & Dark Mode shows at wp.org #1 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 19 places. Its 2K+ 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

Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates places #7 on merit, 4.9★ from 1680 reviews, but shows at wp.org #15. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #5 4 too low 2 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #6 4 too low 3 WP Content Copy Protection with Color Design 5K+ · 4.5★ (25) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Variation Swatches for WooCommerce 300K+ · 4.8★ (926) wp.org #8 ↑1 4 too low 5 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #11 ↑1 6 too low 6 Maintenance 1M+ · 4.4★ (869) wp.org #10 4 too low 7 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #15 ↑1 8 too low 8 Payment Plugins for Stripe WooCommerce 100K+ · 4.8★ (303) wp.org #9 ↓1 1 too low 9 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #17 8 too low 10 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #12 ↑3 2 too low 11 Custom Highlight Color 900+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #3 8 too high 12 Hustle – Email Marketing, Lead Generation, Optins, Popups 80K+ · 4.4★ (859) wp.org #19 ↑2 7 too low 13 Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807) wp.org #18 5 too low 14 Product Addons for Woocommerce – Product Options with Custom Fields 30K+ · 4.9★ (474) wp.org #22 ↓9 8 too low 15 The SEO Framework – Fast, Automated, Effortless. 200K+ · 4.9★ (380) wp.org #16 ↑3 1 too low 16 Sticky Header Effects for Elementor 300K+ · 4.5★ (69) wp.org #13 ↑1 3 too high 17 Simple Download Monitor 20K+ · 4.7★ (158) wp.org #20 3 too low 18 Browser Address Bar Color 300+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #2 16 too high 19 Smooth Back To Top Button 40K+ · 4.9★ (31) wp.org #14 ↓3 5 too high 20 Browser Theme Color – Address Bar Color & Dark Mode 2K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #1 19 too high 21 MetForm – Contact Form, Survey, Quiz, Conditional Forms, Form Templates & Custom Form Builder for Elementor 500K+ · 4.7★ (509) wp.org #21 ↑1 22 Browser Address Bar Color Changer 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 15 too high 23 Extendify 500K+ · 4.7★ (10) wp.org #23 ↑1 24 Dark Mode for Elementor – Global colors mapping 50+ · 0.0★ (0) 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.