wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “conversion buttons”

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 “conversion buttons”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 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

Sticky Buttons – Floating Buttons Builder shows at wp.org #5 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.7★ average from 6 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Poptin – Email Marketing Automation, Newsletter & Exit Pop Ups, Email Popups places #12 on merit, 4.9★ from 701 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Pixel Manager for WooCommerce – Conversion Tracking, Google Ads, GA4, TikTok, Dynamic Remarketing 40K+ · 4.9★ (399) wp.org #1 2

Popup Maker – Boost Sales, Conversions, Optins, Subscribers with the Ultimate WP Popup Builder 600K+ · 4.9★ (4514) wp.org #3 1 too low 3

Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #4 1 too low 4

Pixel Cat – Conversion Pixel Manager 40K+ · 4.0★ (41) wp.org #2 2 too high 5

MaxButtons – Create buttons 70K+ · 4.9★ (1093) wp.org #8 3 too low 6

WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #9 3 too low 7

Call Now Button – The Free Click to Call Button for WordPress 200K+ · 4.8★ (102) wp.org #7 8

Payment Plugins for Stripe WooCommerce 100K+ · 4.8★ (303) wp.org #12 4 too low 9

WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (583) wp.org #6 3 too high 10

Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #16 6 too low 11

Transliterator – Multilingual and Multi-script Text Conversion 3K+ · 4.8★ (96) wp.org #13 ↑1 2 too low 12

Poptin – Email Marketing Automation, Newsletter & Exit Pop Ups, Email Popups 20K+ · 4.9★ (701) wp.org #24 12 too low 13

Cart Abandonment Recovery for WooCommerce – Recover Lost Sales with Automated Emails 300K+ · 4.8★ (626) wp.org #21 ↑3 8 too low 14

WP Call Button – Easy Click to Call Button for WordPress 40K+ · 4.7★ (69) wp.org #18 ↓2 4 too low 15

Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #19 ↓1 4 too low 16

WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway 700K+ · 3.1★ (237) wp.org #11 5 too high 17

Nelio A/B Testing – AB Tests and Heatmaps for Better Conversion Optimization 4K+ · 4.8★ (99) wp.org #20 ↓1 3 too low 18

Buttonizer – Floating Menus, Sticky Buttons, & Popup Builder 70K+ · 4.5★ (151) wp.org #22 ↓1 4 too low 19

Sticky Buttons – Floating Buttons Builder 10K+ · 3.7★ (6) thin reviews wp.org #5 14 too high 20

Superb Social Media Share Buttons and Follow Buttons 6K+ · 4.4★ (11) thin reviews wp.org #14 ↓1 6 too high 21

Bolt CTA Button – Floating Call Button for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (4) thin reviews wp.org #15 6 too high 22

Stape Conversion Tracking 10K+ · 5.0★ (4) thin reviews wp.org #17 5 too high 23

Mobile Call Buttons 600+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #10 13 too high 24

Pulsating Chat Button 3K+ · 5.0★ (1) 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.