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

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 “dual”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20.

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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Customizer Backup & Reset shows at wp.org #10 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 7K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.2★ average from 15 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Meow Lightbox places #12 on merit, 4.9★ from 190 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. 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 #2 1 too low 2 Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Dual Currency Display 500+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 Image Watermark 40K+ · 4.2★ (298) wp.org #6 7 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #9 2 too low 8 AboveWP Bulgarian Eurozone 2K+ · 5.0★ (14) wp.org #4 4 too high 9 PowerPack Lite for Beaver Builder 6K+ · 5.0★ (243) wp.org #12 3 too low 10 Exclusive Addons for Elementor 50K+ · 4.7★ (47) wp.org #8 2 too high 11 CURCY – Multi Currency for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.3★ (227) wp.org #11 12 Meow Lightbox 10K+ · 4.9★ (190) wp.org #16 4 too low 13 Qi Addons For Elementor 200K+ · 4.8★ (205) wp.org #17 4 too low 14 Variation Swatches for WooCommerce 300K+ · 4.8★ (926) wp.org #23 9 too low 15 MultiVendorX – WooCommerce Multivendor Marketplace AI Powered Solutions 2K+ · 4.8★ (432) wp.org #22 7 too low 16 Variation Swatches for WooCommerce – Color, Image & Size Swatches 200K+ · 4.6★ (51) wp.org #13 3 too high 17 Variation Swatches for WooCommerce 9K+ · 4.7★ (55) wp.org #14 3 too high 18 Mega Addons For WPBakery Page Builder 20K+ · 4.2★ (57) wp.org #18 19 Customizer Backup & Reset 7K+ · 4.2★ (15) wp.org #10 9 too high 20 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 Magical Addons For Elementor ( Theme Builder, Header Footer Builder, Free Elementor Widgets, Elementor Templates Library ) 4K+ · 4.7★ (12) wp.org #15 6 too high 22 aThemes Addons for Elementor – Widgets & Elementor Addons 7K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #20 2 too high 23 Range Slider Addon for Gravity Forms 1K+ · 4.8★ (4) wp.org #19 4 too high 24 Zhanzhangb Indexing Submission for Baidu 2K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #21 3 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.