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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “each category”

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 “each category”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 5 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

No Category Parents shows at wp.org #5 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 6K+ 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

Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings places #9 on merit, 4.8★ from 7519 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 List category posts 80K+ · 4.7★ (254) wp.org #1 2 Category Posts Block 40K+ · 4.5★ (79) wp.org #2 3 Category AJAX Filter – Posts, Custom Post Types & Product Filter 6K+ · 4.9★ (158) wp.org #3 4 Product Category Slider & Grid for WooCommerce – Reno Product Category 9K+ · 4.8★ (91) wp.org #4 5 Category Order and Taxonomy Terms Order 500K+ · 4.5★ (162) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Bulk remove posts from category 10K+ · 4.6★ (100) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #14 7 too low 8 Schedule Post Changes With PublishPress Future: Unpublish, Delete, Change Status, Trash, Change Categories 100K+ · 4.5★ (172) wp.org #12 4 too low 9 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #21 ↓1 12 too low 10 Category Posts in Custom Menu 2K+ · 4.8★ (43) wp.org #10 11 Same Category Posts 3K+ · 4.7★ (13) wp.org #7 4 too high 12 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #24 ↓1 12 too low 13 List categories 5K+ · 4.5★ (15) wp.org #8 5 too high 14 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #15 ↓1 1 too low 15 PublishPress Taxonomies – Tag, Category, and Taxonomy Manager – Autotagger Automatically Add Terms 40K+ · 4.6★ (195) wp.org #23 ↓1 8 too low 16 No Category Parents 6K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #5 11 too high 17 Real Category Management: Content Management in Category Folders 2K+ · 4.1★ (17) wp.org #11 6 too high 18 WPB Accordion Menu – Collapsible Vertical Sidebar Responsive Mobile Menu – WooCommerce Category Accordion 10K+ · 4.4★ (54) wp.org #16 ↓1 2 too high 19 Collapsing Categories 4K+ · 4.1★ (57) wp.org #17 ↓1 2 too high 20 Tabbed Category Product Listing for Woocommerce 1K+ · 4.9★ (28) wp.org #19 1 too high 21 Multicolumn Category Widget 300+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #22 ↓1 1 too low 22 Custom Category Image 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #18 ↓1 4 too high 23 Category Description for WooCommerce 700+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #13 10 too high 24 Category Filter Block 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 ↓2 4 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.