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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “customizable menu”

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 “customizable menu”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 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

Restaurant Menu and Food Ordering shows at wp.org #7 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.5★ average from 15 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Polylang places #12 on merit, 4.7★ from 3004 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. 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 ↑1 2 Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 WP Responsive Menu 30K+ · 4.3★ (100) wp.org #3 4 Iks Menu – WordPress Category Accordion Menu & FAQs 10K+ · 5.0★ (27) wp.org #4 5 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #8 ↑3 3 too low 6 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #9 ↑4 3 too low 7 WP Bottom Menu 20K+ · 4.5★ (23) wp.org #5 2 too high 8 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #16 8 too low 9 QuadMenu – Mega Menu 10K+ · 4.5★ (270) wp.org #12 3 too low 10 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #19 ↑1 9 too low 11 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #20 ↓1 9 too low 12 Polylang 900K+ · 4.7★ (3004) wp.org #22 ↑1 10 too low 13 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #23 ↓2 10 too low 14 Offcanvas Mobile Menu 800+ · 4.9★ (18) wp.org #10 ↓1 4 too high 15 Side Menu Lite – Sticky Floating Side Menu 7K+ · 4.0★ (12) wp.org #6 9 too high 16 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #21 5 too low 17 Five Star Restaurant Menu and Food Ordering 5K+ · 4.6★ (107) wp.org #14 3 too high 18 WPB Accordion Menu – Collapsible Vertical Sidebar Responsive Mobile Menu – WooCommerce Category Accordion 10K+ · 4.4★ (54) wp.org #11 ↓1 7 too high 19 Restaurant Menu and Food Ordering 2K+ · 4.5★ (15) wp.org #7 12 too high 20 Enlighter – Customizable Syntax Highlighter 10K+ · 4.8★ (65) wp.org #24 ↓2 4 too low 21 Fullscreen Menu 2K+ · 4.7★ (14) wp.org #13 ↓5 8 too high 22 Bubble Menu – Floating Button Menu with Sticky Navigation 1K+ · 4.2★ (9) wp.org #15 7 too high 23 F12 Floating Menu, sticky menu for WordPress 300+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #18 5 too high 24 Gutenify Mega Menu 700+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 7 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.