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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “duplicate widget plugin”

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 “duplicate widget plugin”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

Duplicate Killer – Prevent Duplicate Form Submissions shows at wp.org #10 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 397 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8708) wp.org #1 2 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #4 ↓1 2 too low 3 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #5 ↓1 2 too low 4 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Rich Showcase for Google Reviews 100K+ · 4.9★ (1623) wp.org #8 ↑4 3 too low 6 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #7 ↑3 1 too low 7 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #9 ↓2 2 too low 8 WP Duplicate Page 60K+ · 4.2★ (16) wp.org #3 ↓1 5 too high 9 Duplicate Post – duplicate pages, copy content, clone posts 5K+ · 4.7★ (7) wp.org #2 ↑3 7 too high 10 Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (397) wp.org #14 ↑2 4 too low 11 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #11 12 Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528) wp.org #16 ↑1 4 too low 13 Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – Easy Social Feeds Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4358) wp.org #20 ↓6 7 too low 14 Floating Chat Widget: Contact Chat Icons, Telegram Chat, Line Messenger, WeChat, Email, SMS, Call Button – Chaty 300K+ · 5.0★ (1244) wp.org #23 9 too low 15 GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 100K+ · 4.6★ (708) wp.org #12 ↓4 3 too high 16 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #22 ↑1 6 too low 17 Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #15 ↓2 2 too high 18 Toolkit for Polylang – Translation Inspector & Duplicate Content 10K+ · 4.5★ (33) wp.org #13 ↓4 5 too high 19 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #21 2 too low 20 Payment Plugins for PayPal WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (127) wp.org #17 3 too high 21 AccessiYes Accessibility Widget for ADA, EAA & WCAG Readiness 20K+ · 4.8★ (36) wp.org #18 ↓3 3 too high 22 Duplicate Killer – Prevent Duplicate Form Submissions 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #10 ↑1 12 too high 23 Statify Widget 4K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #24 ↓4 1 too low 24 Duplicate Title Validator 300+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #19 ↓1 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.