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

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 “contents”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

Table Of Contents Block shows at wp.org #5 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 7 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 1138 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Table of Contents Plus – Automatic Table of Contents for Posts & Pages 200K+ · 4.5★ (187) wp.org #1 2

Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418) wp.org #3 1 too low 3

Easy Table of Contents 600K+ · 4.4★ (221) wp.org #2 1 too high 4

Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #8 ↑2 4 too low 5

Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #7 ↑1 2 too low 6

Joli Table Of Contents – Table of Contents with Gutenberg Block & Shortcode 7K+ · 4.9★ (43) wp.org #4 ↑3 2 too high 7

Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) heavy footprint wp.org #9 2 too low 8

SimpleTOC – Table of Contents Block 10K+ · 4.9★ (77) wp.org #10 ↑6 2 too low 9

Paid Membership Subscriptions – Effortless Memberships, Recurring Payments & Content Restriction 10K+ · 4.7★ (270) wp.org #14 5 too low 10

Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #18 ↓3 8 too low 11

Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) not PHP-currentheavy footprint wp.org #12 1 too low 12

WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click 100K+ · 4.8★ (1138) wp.org #21 ↑3 9 too low 13

Shortcodes Ultimate – Content Elements 400K+ · 4.9★ (5925) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #16 ↓10 3 too low 14

WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) throws errorsnot PHP-currentheavy footprint wp.org #11 3 too high 15

Heroic Table of Contents 5K+ · 4.7★ (10) thin reviews wp.org #6 ↓1 9 too high 16

Content Control – The Ultimate Content Restriction Solution! Restrict Content, Create Conditional Blocks & More 40K+ · 4.9★ (575) wp.org #24 8 too low 17

All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) not PHP-currentheavy footprint wp.org #19 ↑1 2 too low 18

Table Of Contents Block 10K+ · 4.3★ (7) thin reviews wp.org #5 ↓1 13 too high 19

MxChat – AI Chatbot & Content Generation for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (31) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #13 6 too high 20

Secure Copy Content Protection and Content Locking 20K+ · 4.3★ (62) wp.org #22 2 too low 21

Replace Contents 200+ · 5.0★ (4) thin reviews wp.org #15 ↑3 6 too high 22

Internal Linking of Related Contents 3K+ · 4.2★ (5) thin reviews wp.org #17 ↑2 5 too high 23

Table Of Content Block – Auto-Generate Clickable Table of Contents 3K+ · 5.0★ (4) thin reviews wp.org #20 ↑2 3 too high 24

Tabbed Contents Block – organize content into neat, clickable tabs 700+ · 5.0★ (1) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #23 1 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.