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← Rankings

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

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 “components”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 of the top 20. 5 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

WPC Composite Products for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #11 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 5 places. Its 9K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.6★ average from 76 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Advanced WordPress Reset – Debug, Recover & Reset WP places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 1233 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. 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★ (7323) wp.org #1 2 Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418) wp.org #2 3 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #3 4 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #4 ↑1 5 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 BuddyPress 90K+ · 4.1★ (375) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too high 7 Spectra Legacy – Gutenberg Blocks 1M+ · 4.7★ (1872) wp.org #6 ↓2 1 too high 8 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #13 ↑2 5 too low 9 Query Monitor 200K+ · 4.9★ (470) wp.org #12 ↓2 3 too low 10 Advanced WordPress Reset – Debug, Recover & Reset WP 10K+ · 4.9★ (1233) wp.org #18 ↓1 8 too low 11 Kirki – Freeform Page Builder, Website Builder & Customizer 500K+ · 4.5★ (81) wp.org #8 ↑1 3 too high 12 Bootstrap Blocks 10K+ · 5.0★ (28) wp.org #10 ↑1 2 too high 13 WPVulnerability 10K+ · 5.0★ (20) wp.org #9 ↓1 4 too high 14 The Icon Block 40K+ · 5.0★ (29) wp.org #14 ↓1 15 GEO my WP 3K+ · 4.6★ (139) wp.org #16 1 too low 16 WPC Composite Products for WooCommerce 9K+ · 4.6★ (76) wp.org #11 ↑1 5 too high 17 Depicter — Popup & Slider Builder 70K+ · 4.6★ (235) wp.org #15 ↓1 2 too high 18 Dynamic Widgets 10K+ · 4.7★ (109) wp.org #23 5 too low 19 Rate My Post – Star Rating Plugin by FeedbackWP 20K+ · 4.7★ (159) wp.org #17 ↑6 2 too high 20 Patchstack – WordPress & Plugins Security 100K+ · 4.9★ (61) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 Powerkit – Supercharge your WordPress Site 10K+ · 4.5★ (14) wp.org #21 ↓2 22 Royal WordPress Backup, Restore & Migration Plugin – Backup WordPress Sites Safely 30K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #19 3 too high 23 Borderless – Addons and Templates for Elementor 5K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #20 ↓3 3 too high 24 Components Overview for Flynt 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 ↓3 2 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.