wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “carts”
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 “carts”, we agree with wp.org 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
Live Carts for WooCommerce: Track Active, Abandoned, and Converted Carts & Wishlists in Real Time! shows at wp.org #7 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 900+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 4 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 #12 on merit, 4.9★ from 1680 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
CartBounty – Save and recover abandoned carts for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.8★ (84)
wp.org #1 2 
Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322)
wp.org #2 3 
Cart Abandonment Recovery for WooCommerce – Recover Lost Sales with Automated Emails 300K+ · 4.8★ (626)
wp.org #3 ↑6 4 
Side Cart Woocommerce | Woocommerce Cart 70K+ · 4.9★ (453)
wp.org #6 ↓2 2 too low 5 
WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833)
wp.org #9 ↓2 4 too low 6 
Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132)
wp.org #13 ↓1 7 too low 7 
Sliding Cart for WooCommerce by FunnelKit – Skip Cart & Reach WooCommerce Checkout Faster 30K+ · 5.0★ (111)
wp.org #10 ↑9 3 too low 8 
Modern Cart – WooCommerce Side Cart & Popup Cart 60K+ · 4.9★ (16) thin reviews
wp.org #5 ↓2 3 too high 9 
Payment Plugins for Stripe WooCommerce 100K+ · 4.8★ (303)
wp.org #12 ↓1 3 too low 10 
BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55)
wp.org #8 2 too high 11 
Simple Shopping Cart 10K+ · 4.6★ (215)
wp.org #14 ↑4 3 too low 12 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680)
wp.org #20 8 too low 13 
Menu Cart for WooCommerce 70K+ · 4.6★ (99)
wp.org #16 ↓6 3 too low 14 
Ajax add to cart for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.7★ (78)
wp.org #18 ↓4 4 too low 15 
ShopMagic Abandoned Cart Recovery for WooCommerce 2K+ · 5.0★ (4) thin reviews
wp.org #4 ↑2 11 too high 16 
WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (583)
wp.org #11 5 too high 17 
CartSuite – Cart All In One For WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.5★ (51)
wp.org #15 ↓2 2 too high 18 
WPC Fly Cart for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.7★ (61)
wp.org #19 1 too low 19 
Abandoned Cart Lite for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.1★ (84)
wp.org #23 ↓7 4 too low 20 
Cart Popup for WooCommerce 9K+ · 4.4★ (70)
wp.org #24 ↓1 4 too low 21 Live Carts for WooCommerce: Track Active, Abandoned, and Converted Carts & Wishlists in Real Time! 900+ · 5.0★ (4) thin reviews
wp.org #7 ↓2 14 too high 22 
WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway 700K+ · 3.1★ (237)
wp.org #21 ↓6 1 too high 23 
Minimum Purchase Amount For Woo Cart – For WooCommerce 6K+ · 4.7★ (9) thin reviews
wp.org #22 1 too high 24 
ThemeHunk – Side Cart, Ajax Cart & Menu Cart for WooCommerce 5K+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews
wp.org #17 7 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.