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← Rankings

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

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 “credibility”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 4 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

Auto Update Post Date shows at wp.org #10 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 2K+ 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

Easy Accordion – AI-Powered FAQ & Accordion Blocks, Product FAQ places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 358 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 wp.org
1 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #1 2 Molongui Authorship – Author Boxes, Guest Authors & Co-Authors for WordPress 10K+ · 4.7★ (158) wp.org #2 3 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too low 4 Testimonial – Testimonial Slider and Showcase Plugin 20K+ · 4.6★ (67) wp.org #3 ↑5 1 too high 5 NotificationX – FOMO, Live Sales Notification, WooCommerce Sales Popup, GDPR, Social Proof, Announcement Banner & Floating Notification Bar 30K+ · 4.8★ (228) wp.org #5 ↓1 6 WP Social Ninja – Embed Social Feeds, User Reviews & Chat Widgets 30K+ · 4.8★ (71) wp.org #11 ↑4 5 too low 7 Gutenberg Essential Blocks – Page Builder for Gutenberg Blocks & Patterns 100K+ · 4.9★ (216) wp.org #14 7 too low 8 Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) wp.org #8 ↑2 9 Easy Accordion – AI-Powered FAQ & Accordion Blocks, Product FAQ 70K+ · 4.9★ (358) wp.org #24 15 too low 10 Widgets for Google Reviews and Ratings 3K+ · 4.2★ (10) wp.org #6 ↑3 4 too high 11 ReviewX – Multi-Criteria Reviews for WooCommerce with Google Reviews & Schema 6K+ · 4.5★ (85) wp.org #16 5 too low 12 Reviews Widgets for Google, TripAdvisor, Yelp & Recommendations 10K+ · 4.9★ (326) wp.org #21 ↑1 9 too low 13 Logo Slider – Logo Showcase, Logo Carousel, Logo Gallery and Client Logo Presentation 30K+ · 4.7★ (252) wp.org #20 7 too low 14 WP Post Author – Author Box, Multiple Authors, Guest Authors & Custom Avatars 10K+ · 4.2★ (22) wp.org #13 ↓1 1 too high 15 Tagembed: Social Media Feeds and Customer Reviews Widget 9K+ · 3.9★ (62) wp.org #17 ↑2 2 too low 16 SmartSMTP 2K+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #7 9 too high 17 SALERT – Social Proof Notifications & Live Sales Popup 8K+ · 3.9★ (16) wp.org #18 ↓1 1 too low 18 CM Footnotes – Boost your content’s credibility with footnotes, citations, and bibliography 100+ · 4.2★ (6) wp.org #12 ↓1 6 too high 19 Team Member Block 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #9 ↓4 10 too high 20 WP Ultimate Review 60K+ · 3.4★ (17) wp.org #23 3 too low 21 Auto Update Post Date 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #10 ↓4 11 too high 22 WPC Smart Notifications for WooCommerce 500+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 ↓2 7 too high 23 Reviewkit – Trustpilot Reviews Widget & Embed 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #19 ↓1 4 too high 24 Testimonial Block 500+ · 3.0★ (1) wp.org #22 ↓1 2 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.