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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “clear floats”

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 “clear floats”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

Init Ad Engine – Flexible, Multi-Format, Secure shows at wp.org #11 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 90+ 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

MaxButtons – Create buttons places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 1093 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. 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★ (4955) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Social Media Share Buttons & Social Sharing Icons 100K+ · 4.8★ (5333) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Float menu – awesome floating side menu 30K+ · 4.4★ (41) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 Unlimited Elements For Elementor 300K+ · 4.8★ (522) wp.org #7 3 too low 5 Visual CSS Style Editor 30K+ · 4.1★ (90) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2043) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 Secure Custom Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (65) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 Booster for WooCommerce – PDF Invoices, Abandoned Cart, Variation Swatches & 100+ Tools 30K+ · 4.6★ (533) wp.org #8 9 MaxButtons – Create buttons 70K+ · 4.9★ (1093) wp.org #17 8 too low 10 Side Menu Lite – Sticky Floating Side Menu 7K+ · 4.0★ (12) wp.org #5 5 too high 11 Accept Donations with PayPal & Stripe 10K+ · 3.8★ (23) wp.org #10 1 too high 12 Modal Window – create popup modal window 10K+ · 3.8★ (36) wp.org #12 13 Slider Hero with Video Background, Animation 3K+ · 4.8★ (34) wp.org #19 ↑1 6 too low 14 Tableberg – Simple Gutenberg Table Block 4K+ · 4.8★ (46) wp.org #22 8 too low 15 Cost of Goods: Product Cost & Profit Calculator for WooCommerce 9K+ · 4.7★ (41) wp.org #16 1 too low 16 Transient Cleaner 1K+ · 5.0★ (23) wp.org #24 ↓1 8 too low 17 Min Max Step Quantity Limits Manager for WooCommerce 3K+ · 4.9★ (51) wp.org #21 4 too low 18 Free Shipping Label and Progress Bar for WooCommerce 5K+ · 5.0★ (43) wp.org #23 ↑1 5 too low 19 Bubble Menu – Floating Button Menu with Sticky Navigation 1K+ · 4.2★ (9) wp.org #13 ↑1 6 too high 20 Clear Floats Button 2K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #18 2 too high 21 FlatPM – Ad Manager, AdSense and Custom Code 10K+ · 4.6★ (9) wp.org #20 ↓1 1 too high 22 ShopMagic Abandoned Cart Recovery for WooCommerce 2K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #15 7 too high 23 Presswell Art Direction 80+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #14 ↓1 9 too high 24 Init Ad Engine – Flexible, Multi-Format, Secure 90+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 13 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.