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

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 “dropdown”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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.

T

Ranked above its merit

Taxonomy Dropdown Widget shows at wp.org #6 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.7★ average from 9 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 14387 reviews, but shows at wp.org #15. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Country State City Dropdown CF7 5K+ · 4.9★ (30) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Variation Swatches for WooCommerce 300K+ · 4.8★ (926) wp.org #5 ↑2 2 too low 4 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #11 ↓2 7 too low 5 D Dropdown Multisite Selector 900+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Navigation menu as Dropdown Widget 2K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #3 3 too high 7 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #15 ↓4 8 too low 8 Variation Swatches for WooCommerce – Color, Image & Size Swatches 200K+ · 4.6★ (51) wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too high 9 Ultra Addons for Contact Form 7 60K+ · 4.8★ (107) wp.org #10 1 too low 10 Quiz Maker by AYS 20K+ · 4.9★ (601) wp.org #16 ↑2 6 too low 11 Media Library Assistant 70K+ · 4.8★ (202) wp.org #13 ↑2 2 too low 12 WP Store Locator 40K+ · 4.8★ (312) wp.org #17 ↓3 5 too low 13 Folders – Unlimited Folders to Organize Media Library Folder, Pages, Posts, File Manager 90K+ · 5.0★ (1525) wp.org #24 11 too low 14 Max Mega Menu 300K+ · 4.8★ (882) wp.org #20 6 too low 15 Unlimited Elements for Elementor 300K+ · 4.8★ (525) wp.org #22 7 too low 16 Yoast Duplicate Post 3M+ · 4.7★ (538) wp.org #12 4 too high 17 Category AJAX Filter – Posts, Custom Post Types & Product Filter 6K+ · 4.9★ (158) wp.org #21 ↓2 4 too low 18 User Role Editor 700K+ · 4.5★ (288) wp.org #23 5 too low 19 T Taxonomy Dropdown Widget 1K+ · 4.7★ (9) wp.org #6 ↓1 13 too high 20 D Display Product Variations Dropdown on Shop Page 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #8 12 too high 21 Pi – Shipping method dropdown for WooCommerce 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #9 ↓1 12 too high 22 Variation Dropdown to Radio Buttons for WooCommerce 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #18 ↓2 4 too high 23 Product Dropdown Field For Contact Form 7 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 ↓1 9 too high 24 Country Dropdown For Contact Form 7 800+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↓2 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.