wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “content box”
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 “content box”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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
Popup Box – Easily Create WordPress Popups shows at wp.org #6 but places #14 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 6K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 11 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
Content Aware Sidebars – Fastest Widget Area Plugin places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 724 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
Meta Box – A Framework for Dynamic Websites 500K+ · 4.8★ (165)
wp.org #1 2 
Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322)
wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too low 3 
Simple Author Box 90K+ · 4.3★ (115)
wp.org #2 1 too high 4 
Content Views – Post Grid & Filter (Shortcode, Blocks, Elementor Widgets) 100K+ · 4.8★ (333)
wp.org #4 ↓1 5 
WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click 100K+ · 4.8★ (1139)
wp.org #7 2 too low 6 
Popup Box – Create Countdown, Coupon, Video, Contact Form Popups 50K+ · 4.6★ (82)
wp.org #5 1 too high 7 
Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27820)
wp.org #10 ↑6 3 too low 8 
Co-Authors, Multiple Authors and Guest Authors in an Author Box with PublishPress Authors 20K+ · 4.9★ (114)
wp.org #9 ↑6 1 too low 9 Content Aware Sidebars – Fastest Widget Area Plugin 30K+ · 4.9★ (724)
wp.org #14 5 too low 10 
Secure Copy Content Protection and Content Locking 20K+ · 4.3★ (62)
wp.org #8 2 too high 11 
Noptin – Newsletter, New Post Notifications & Email Automation 10K+ · 4.5★ (120)
wp.org #11 ↓2 12 
Paid Membership Subscriptions – Effortless Memberships, Recurring Payments & Content Restriction 10K+ · 4.7★ (270)
wp.org #16 ↑6 4 too low 13 
Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132)
wp.org #19 ↓7 6 too low 14 Popup Box – Easily Create WordPress Popups 6K+ · 5.0★ (11) thin reviews
wp.org #6 8 too high 15 
TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667)
wp.org #24 ↓7 9 too low 16 
The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461)
wp.org #22 ↓1 6 too low 17 
MxChat – AI Chatbot & Content Generation for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (31)
wp.org #13 ↑1 4 too high 18 
Easy Table of Contents 600K+ · 4.4★ (221)
wp.org #18 19 
Gallery Box 1K+ · 4.1★ (18) thin reviews
wp.org #12 ↓2 7 too high 20 
Coupzy Coupon Box for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.6★ (37)
wp.org #21 ↓1 1 too low 21 
Easy Social Like Box – Popup – Sidebar Widget 6K+ · 4.4★ (18) thin reviews
wp.org #15 ↓2 6 too high 22 
Content Egg – Affiliate Product Importer & Price Comparison 10K+ · 3.9★ (56)
wp.org #23 ↑1 1 too low 23 
Cool Author Box – For Widget and Post Content 500+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews
wp.org #17 ↓6 6 too high 24 
Essential Content Types 20K+ · 3.7★ (3) thin reviews
wp.org #20 ↓1 4 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.