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← Rankings

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

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

9MAIL – WordPress Email Templates Designer shows at wp.org #10 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 200+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 4 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 #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 4755 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 Kadence WooCommerce Email Designer 90K+ · 4.5★ (142) wp.org #1 2 Blog Designer Pack – Blog, Post Grid, Post Slider, Post Carousel, Category Post, News 30K+ · 4.7★ (79) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461) wp.org #5 ↑2 2 too low 4 Email Templates Customizer and Designer for WordPress and WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.6★ (133) wp.org #4 5 Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 Ollie Menu Designer 6K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #2 4 too high 7 Zakeke Interactive Product Designer for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.7★ (131) wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too high 8 Email Template Designer – WP HTML Mail 20K+ · 4.8★ (87) wp.org #8 ↓2 9 Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807) wp.org #15 ↑2 6 too low 10 Starter Templates: AI-Powered Website Templates for Elementor & Gutenberg 1M+ · 4.9★ (4755) wp.org #22 12 too low 11 SVG Support 1M+ · 4.8★ (356) wp.org #14 ↑10 3 too low 12 Kirki – Freeform Page Builder, Website Builder & Customizer 500K+ · 4.5★ (81) wp.org #13 ↑1 1 too low 13 Superb Addons: Blocks, Patterns, Pre-built Pages, Sliders, Popups, Free Forms, Animations & More 80K+ · 4.9★ (23) wp.org #20 ↓1 7 too low 14 Post List Designer – Category Post, Recent Post, Post List 1K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #9 5 too high 15 Magazine Blocks – Blog Designer, Magazine & Newspaper Website Builder, Page Builder with Posts Blocks, Post Grid 6K+ · 4.9★ (11) wp.org #16 ↑2 1 too low 16 MainWP Child – Securely Connects to the MainWP Dashboard to Manage Multiple Sites 700K+ · 5.0★ (71) wp.org #21 5 too low 17 BlogLentor – Blog Designer Pack for Elementor 4K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #17 ↓2 18 9MAIL – WordPress Email Templates Designer 200+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #10 8 too high 19 PressPrimer Certificate – Certificate Designer & Course Certification for Your LMS 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #11 8 too high 20 NextXen Designer – Product Customizer for WooCommerce 60+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #12 8 too high 21 Custom Product Builder for WooCommerce – Product Designer & Personalizer 300+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #19 ↑1 2 too high 22 WPZOOM Portfolio Lite – Filterable Portfolio Plugin 20K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #23 ↓1 1 too low 23 DC Login Designer 30+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 Email customizer and designer for woocommerce 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 ↓5 6 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.