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

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 “cool”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 9 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

Cool Author Box – For Widget and Post Content shows at wp.org #4 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 500+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Timeline Widget For Elementor (Elementor Timeline, Vertical & Horizontal Timeline) places #8 on merit, 4.8★ from 248 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 wp.org
1 Cool Timeline (Horizontal & Vertical Timeline) 20K+ · 4.7★ (333) wp.org #1 2 Cool Flipbox – Shortcode & Gutenberg Block 5K+ · 4.8★ (103) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Cool FormKit Lite – Advanced Form Builder for Elementor 20K+ · 4.6★ (25) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Events Widgets For Elementor And The Events Calendar 10K+ · 4.5★ (108) wp.org #6 ↑4 2 too low 5 SVG Support 1M+ · 4.8★ (356) wp.org #11 6 too low 6 Conditional Fields for Elementor Form – Apply Conditional Logic 10K+ · 4.7★ (32) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 Animate It! 20K+ · 4.9★ (127) wp.org #14 7 too low 8 Timeline Widget For Elementor (Elementor Timeline, Vertical & Horizontal Timeline) 70K+ · 4.8★ (248) wp.org #21 ↑1 13 too low 9 FormsDB – Save Elementor Forms to Google Sheets & Post Type 20K+ · 4.6★ (19) wp.org #7 ↓1 2 too high 10 Input Mask For Elementor Form Fields 10K+ · 4.5★ (24) wp.org #13 3 too low 11 Country Code For Elementor Form Telephone Field 10K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #9 ↓1 2 too high 12 Redux Framework 900K+ · 4.4★ (273) wp.org #24 ↓5 12 too low 13 WP LinkedIn Auto Publish 8K+ · 4.8★ (106) wp.org #19 6 too low 14 Timeline Block For Gutenberg 9K+ · 4.4★ (11) wp.org #8 ↓1 6 too high 15 AI Translation For TranslatePress 10K+ · 4.8★ (69) wp.org #18 ↓1 3 too low 16 Linguator – AI Auto Translate & Create Multilingual Sites 3K+ · 4.6★ (20) wp.org #15 1 too high 17 Form Input Masks For Elementor Forms 10K+ · 4.1★ (18) wp.org #10 ↓1 7 too high 18 Cool Author Box – For Widget and Post Content 500+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #4 14 too high 19 My WordPress Login Logo 10K+ · 4.9★ (12) wp.org #23 4 too low 20 Loop Grid Extender for Elementor – ACF Repeater & Smart Filters 1K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #12 8 too high 21 Web Stories Widgets For Elementor 900+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #20 1 too high 22 Cool Correo Argentino – WooCommerce 200+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #17 ↓1 5 too high 23 Super Cool Ad Inserter Plugin 500+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 1 too high 24 Mailster Cool Captcha 400+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↓1 8 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.