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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “collapse content”

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 “collapse content”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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

Collapse Magic shows at wp.org #3 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.7★ average from 6 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin places #7 on merit, 4.9★ from 1281 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 Content Views – Post Grid & Filter (Shortcode, Blocks, Elementor Widgets) 100K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #1 2 WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click 100K+ · 4.8★ (1138) wp.org #2 ↑2 3 Table of Contents Plus – Automatic Table of Contents for Posts & Pages 200K+ · 4.5★ (187) wp.org #4 ↓2 1 too low 4 Accordion FAQ – Compatible With All Page Builder (Elementor, Gutenberg) 30K+ · 4.6★ (676) wp.org #8 4 too low 5 Secure Copy Content Protection and Content Locking 20K+ · 4.3★ (62) wp.org #5 6 Easy Table of Contents 600K+ · 4.4★ (221) wp.org #6 7 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #17 ↑1 10 too low 8 WPVibe – MCP Server for WordPress, works with Claude, ChatGPT & other AI MCP agents 100K+ · 5.0★ (199) wp.org #14 ↑3 6 too low 9 Read More Without Refresh 20K+ · 4.2★ (55) wp.org #11 ↑1 2 too low 10 Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) wp.org #16 6 too low 11 Interactive Content – H5P 40K+ · 4.8★ (61) wp.org #9 2 too high 12 Heroic Table of Contents 5K+ · 4.7★ (10) wp.org #7 5 too high 13 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #20 7 too low 14 Lightweight Accordion 10K+ · 5.0★ (60) wp.org #21 7 too low 15 Easy Accordion Block – Accordion, FAQ & Collapsible Content for the Block Editor 7K+ · 4.4★ (16) wp.org #10 5 too high 16 Nav Menu Collapse 3K+ · 5.0★ (14) wp.org #12 ↓1 4 too high 17 Notibar – Notification Bar for WordPress 8K+ · 4.8★ (71) wp.org #23 ↑1 6 too low 18 Collapse Magic 1K+ · 3.7★ (6) wp.org #3 15 too high 19 Advanced Accordion Gutenberg Block – Create Beautiful FAQs, Content Accordions & Interactive Tabs 9K+ · 4.1★ (34) wp.org #15 ↓2 4 too high 20 Page Builder: Pagelayer – Drag and Drop website builder 400K+ · 3.9★ (104) wp.org #22 2 too low 21 Button visually impaired 10K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 Accordions – Responsive Accordion & FAQ Plugin for WordPress 1K+ · 4.6★ (10) wp.org #18 ↑4 4 too high 23 CM Table Of Contents – Clear navigation for better content discovery 100+ · 3.3★ (9) wp.org #13 ↑1 10 too high 24 ACF Admin Flexible Content Collapse 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #19 ↓4 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.