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

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 “colored”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 3 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

Leadpages shows at wp.org #13 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Ultimate Post Kit – Elementor Post Grid, Post Carousel, Post Slider & Blog Layout Widgets places #9 on merit, 4.8★ from 58 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470) wp.org #3 2 too low 2 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #2 3 WP Store Locator 40K+ · 4.8★ (312) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 WP Dashboard Notes 20K+ · 4.6★ (110) wp.org #4 5 Colored Admin Post List 500+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #1 4 too high 6 Divi Torque Lite 50K+ · 4.7★ (116) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 RPB Chessboard 1K+ · 4.8★ (20) wp.org #8 1 too low 8 Vertical News Scroller 5K+ · 4.3★ (17) wp.org #6 2 too high 9 Ultimate Post Kit – Elementor Post Grid, Post Carousel, Post Slider & Blog Layout Widgets 30K+ · 4.8★ (58) wp.org #22 13 too low 10 Dark Mode Toggle 2K+ · 4.6★ (19) wp.org #12 2 too low 11 exovia GDPR Google Maps 4K+ · 4.6★ (11) wp.org #10 1 too high 12 Full Screen Background 2K+ · 4.9★ (45) wp.org #23 11 too low 13 Uji Countdown 4K+ · 3.2★ (54) wp.org #11 2 too high 14 EventPrime – Events Calendar, Bookings, Tickets & AI 7K+ · 4.4★ (85) wp.org #17 3 too low 15 Special Text Boxes 1K+ · 3.4★ (21) wp.org #7 8 too high 16 FluentBoards – Project Management, Task Management, Goal Tracking, Kanban Board, and, Team Collaboration 6K+ · 5.0★ (25) wp.org #21 5 too low 17 Geo Mashup 1K+ · 4.7★ (33) wp.org #14 3 too high 18 WP GPX Maps 4K+ · 4.1★ (59) wp.org #19 1 too low 19 Insert Headers and Footers Code – HT Script 7K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #16 3 too high 20 WCBoost – Variation Swatches 40K+ · 4.8★ (5) wp.org #20 21 Grayscale Images 70+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #15 6 too high 22 Leadpages 10K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #13 9 too high 23 Pro Mime Types – Manage file media types 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #18 5 too high 24 Surbma | Divi Extras 1K+ · 4.0★ (4) 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.