Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “design sets”

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 “design sets”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

Fluid Design System for Elementor shows at wp.org #4 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 18 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Starter Templates: AI-Powered Website Templates for Elementor & Gutenberg places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 4755 reviews, but shows at wp.org #13. 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 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #5 ↑2 2 too low 4 WP Content Copy Protection with Color Design 5K+ · 4.5★ (25) wp.org #2 2 too high 5 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #7 ↑4 2 too low 6 Site Kit by Google – Analytics, Search Console, AdSense, Speed 5M+ · 4.2★ (1012) wp.org #6 7 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #10 3 too low 8 Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528) wp.org #11 ↑7 3 too low 9 Starter Templates: AI-Powered Website Templates for Elementor & Gutenberg 1M+ · 4.9★ (4755) wp.org #13 ↑1 4 too low 10 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #8 ↑4 2 too high 11 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #12 ↑1 1 too low 12 Polylang 900K+ · 4.7★ (3004) wp.org #16 ↑4 4 too low 13 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #20 7 too low 14 HD Quiz 6K+ · 4.9★ (145) wp.org #15 ↑2 1 too low 15 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #22 7 too low 16 My Calendar – Accessible Event Manager 20K+ · 4.7★ (159) wp.org #17 ↓2 1 too low 17 Smart Grid-Layout Design for Contact Form 7 10K+ · 4.5★ (72) wp.org #9 8 too high 18 Security Optimizer – The All-In-One Protection Plugin 1M+ · 4.5★ (157) wp.org #14 ↑2 4 too high 19 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #23 ↓1 4 too low 20 Tutor LMS – eLearning and online course solution 100K+ · 4.4★ (590) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 Click to Chat – HoliThemes 600K+ · 4.8★ (131) wp.org #21 ↑2 22 Fluid Design System for Elementor 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #4 ↑1 18 too high 23 Blogsqode – Blog Layouts and News Post Design 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #18 ↑3 5 too high 24 Set Price Note (Units, Offers, Editions) for WooCommerce 600+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #19 5 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.