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

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 “canva”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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

Canvas Image Resize shows at wp.org #4 but places #13 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.6★ average from 10 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

PowerPack Addons for Elementor: Widgets, Form Styler and Templates places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 361 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Max Mega Menu 300K+ · 4.8★ (882) wp.org #5 3 too low 3 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #6 3 too low 4 Off-Canvas Sidebars & Menus (Slidebars) 1K+ · 4.8★ (38) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Canvas 9K+ · 4.1★ (8) wp.org #1 4 too high 6 Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528) wp.org #9 ↑2 3 too low 7 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #8 ↑1 1 too low 8 Easy Digital Downloads – eCommerce Payments and Subscriptions made easy 40K+ · 4.7★ (592) wp.org #11 ↓1 3 too low 9 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #10 ↓2 1 too low 10 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #12 2 too low 11 Kirki – Freeform Page Builder, Website Builder & Customizer 400K+ · 4.5★ (81) wp.org #7 4 too high 12 PowerPack Addons for Elementor: Widgets, Form Styler and Templates 70K+ · 4.8★ (361) wp.org #16 ↓1 4 too low 13 Canvas Image Resize 1K+ · 4.6★ (10) wp.org #4 9 too high 14 Data Tables Generator by Supsystic – Excel-like, WooCommerce & Pricing Tables 10K+ · 4.7★ (497) wp.org #18 4 too low 15 Dark Mode for WP Dashboard 3K+ · 4.8★ (34) wp.org #13 2 too high 16 WPB Accordion Menu – Collapsible Vertical Sidebar Responsive Mobile Menu – WooCommerce Category Accordion 10K+ · 4.4★ (54) wp.org #14 2 too high 17 Ultimate Maps by Supsystic – OpenStreetMap, Leaflet & Mapbox, No API Key 10K+ · 4.6★ (86) wp.org #20 3 too low 18 Fullwidth Templates for Any Theme & Page Builder 20K+ · 4.7★ (42) wp.org #21 3 too low 19 GutenKit – Page Builder Blocks, Patterns, and Templates for Gutenberg Block Editor 80K+ · 4.5★ (48) wp.org #24 5 too low 20 CoolClock 1K+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #17 ↓1 3 too high 21 MX Time Zone Clocks 1K+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #22 1 too low 22 Mobile App Canvas – Convert your Website Into an App for iOS and Android 200+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #15 ↑2 7 too high 23 Hash Form – Drag & Drop Form Builder 3K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #23 ↑1 24 Hester Core 10K+ · 2.5★ (2) wp.org #19 5 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.