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

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 editable”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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

Super SEO Content Cloner shows at wp.org #10 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 200+ 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

Starter Templates: AI-Powered Website Templates for Elementor & Gutenberg places #11 on merit, 4.9★ from 4755 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. 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★ (7322) wp.org #1 2 WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click 100K+ · 4.8★ (1138) wp.org #2 3 WP 2FA – Two-factor authentication for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (184) wp.org #5 ↑2 2 too low 4 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #9 4 too low 6 Archive Content with Archived Post Status 5K+ · 4.9★ (36) wp.org #4 ↑13 2 too high 7 Content Egg – Affiliate Product Importer & Price Comparison 10K+ · 3.9★ (56) wp.org #3 4 too high 8 Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) wp.org #8 ↑12 9 PublishPress Permissions: Access Control, Content Permissions, User Access 10K+ · 4.3★ (66) wp.org #7 ↑6 2 too high 10 Otter Blocks – Gutenberg Blocks, Page Builder for Gutenberg Editor & FSE 300K+ · 4.7★ (251) wp.org #11 ↓1 1 too low 11 Starter Templates: AI-Powered Website Templates for Elementor & Gutenberg 1M+ · 4.9★ (4755) wp.org #20 ↑2 9 too low 12 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #14 ↓9 2 too low 13 SureForms – Contact Form Builder, AI Forms, Payment Form, Survey & Quiz 500K+ · 4.8★ (102) wp.org #16 ↓8 3 too low 14 Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) wp.org #13 ↑1 1 too high 15 UiChemy – Convert Figma, Prompts and AI Builds to Elementor, Gutenberg and Bricks 8K+ · 5.0★ (15) wp.org #19 4 too low 16 WPC Smart Quick View for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.9★ (31) wp.org #21 5 too low 17 Jamie's Front-End Editor for Content Teams 100+ · 4.6★ (8) wp.org #15 ↓4 2 too high 18 Disable Right Click RB – Content Copy Protection, Prevent Copy & No Right Click 600+ · 4.2★ (14) wp.org #22 4 too low 19 Footnotes & Content 100+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #17 ↓1 2 too high 20 bSlider – Build Sliders That Bring Your Content to Life 5K+ · 4.0★ (11) wp.org #18 2 too high 21 Opace AI Scribe: SEO Content Creator & Humanizer for OpenAI, Anthropic & Gemini 100+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #23 ↑1 2 too low 22 Super SEO Content Cloner 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 ↓1 12 too high 23 WEUX Content Finder 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 11 too high 24 VovaBlocks – Marketing & Content Blocks for Gutenberg 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24 ↓1

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.