Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “cross browser”

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 “cross browser”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 2 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

LA-Studio Element Kit for Elementor shows at wp.org #7 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 7 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Popup Maker – Boost Sales, Conversions, Optins, Subscribers with the Ultimate WP Popup Builder places #5 on merit, 4.9★ from 4514 reviews, but shows at wp.org #11. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #1 2 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #2 ↑3 3 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #5 ↓1 2 too low 4 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #4 ↓2 5 Popup Maker – Boost Sales, Conversions, Optins, Subscribers with the Ultimate WP Popup Builder 600K+ · 4.9★ (4514) wp.org #11 ↓2 6 too low 6 Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (397) wp.org #9 ↑3 3 too low 7 All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #10 ↑1 3 too low 8 WP Post Page Clone 70K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #3 5 too high 9 Embed Any Document – Embed PDF, Word, PowerPoint and Excel Files 50K+ · 4.2★ (92) wp.org #8 1 too high 10 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #15 ↑7 5 too low 11 WP BrowserUpdate 1K+ · 4.6★ (16) wp.org #6 5 too high 12 Table Sorter 5K+ · 4.8★ (29) wp.org #12 ↓2 13 Master Slider – Responsive Touch Slider 60K+ · 4.6★ (504) wp.org #17 ↓1 4 too low 14 Safelayout Cute Preloader – CSS3 WordPress Preloader 10K+ · 5.0★ (84) wp.org #23 ↑1 9 too low 15 B Before After Image Comparison Slider for Elementor 10K+ · 4.4★ (96) wp.org #19 ↓2 4 too low 16 Document Viewer – let visitors view files right in the browser 2K+ · 4.7★ (52) wp.org #20 4 too low 17 Upsell Funnel Builder for WooCommerce – Create Upsells, Cross-Sells, Order Bumps, Frequently Bought, and Popups. 2K+ · 4.7★ (116) wp.org #18 ↑1 1 too low 18 SlickNav Mobile Menu 3K+ · 4.8★ (24) wp.org #16 ↓1 2 too high 19 View Transitions 10K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #22 ↑1 3 too low 20 LA-Studio Element Kit for Elementor 10K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #7 13 too high 21 Event Booking Manager for WooCommerce – Sell Tickets, Event Registration, RSVP & Event Calendar 7K+ · 4.5★ (167) wp.org #21 22 Image Slider 4K+ · 3.4★ (31) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 Shortcodes and extra features for Phlox theme 80K+ · 2.1★ (7) wp.org #14 9 too high 24 Live Copy Paste for Elementor – Cross Domain Copy Paste & Page Duplicator 6K+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #13 11 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.