wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “edit post page add new button”
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 “edit post page add new button”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 5 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
Duplicate Post – duplicate pages, copy content, clone posts shows at wp.org #8 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 5K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.7★ average from 7 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
Post Views Counter places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 1,238 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.
How this rank is calculated
Each plugin's merit score multiplies these inputs together: how recently it was updated, how current its "tested up to" WordPress version is, its install base (log scale, capped at 10 million), its support thread resolution rate, and a rating score. The rating score weights the star average by review volume against a sitewide prior, then scales it by the lower bound of the share of 4 and 5 star reviews. A plugin with 3.7 stars from tens of thousands of reviews can still outscore a 4.9 with a few dozen, because the small sample carries less certainty.
A health factor between 0.4 and 1.15 then adjusts that score for what wp.org's search can't see: PHP fatals or failed activations on a test install, PHP and WordPress compatibility, memory and page-speed footprint, suspicious review patterns, closure risk, and a large install base with very few reviews. Clean, adopted plugins earn a small lift.
A keyword ranking starts from wp.org's search order for the term, weighting each position by 1 divided by its place, then applies the merit correction and health factor above. Relevance to the keyword stays in the result, so the order can differ from the all-categories list on /best, which scores plugins with no search term.
Hover a row to see the main reason for its position.
Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7,322)
wp.org #1 2 
Simple Custom Post Order 300K+ · 4.8★ (588)
wp.org #2 ↑1 3 
Folders – Unlimited Folders to Organize Media Library Folder, Pages, Posts, File Manager 90K+ · 5.0★ (1,527)
wp.org #4 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 4 
Post Types Order 600K+ · 4.5★ (296)
wp.org #3 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 5 
Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27,820)
wp.org #7 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 6 
Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (334)
wp.org #5 ↑4 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 7 
Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2,409)
wp.org #6 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 8 
TablePress – Tables in WordPress made easy 600K+ · 5.0★ (4,625)
wp.org #12 wp.org ranks it 4 places below merit 9 
Post and Page Builder by BoldGrid – Visual Drag and Drop Editor 50K+ · 4.7★ (140)
wp.org #10 ↓4 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 10 Post Views Counter 100K+ · 4.9★ (1,238)
wp.org #16 wp.org ranks it 6 places below merit 11 
Post Duplicator 200K+ · 4.8★ (80)
wp.org #9 ↓4 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 12 
Call Now Button – The Free Click to Call Button for WordPress 200K+ · 4.8★ (102)
wp.org #11 ↓4 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 13 
Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1,440)
wp.org #13 ↑7 14 
Page scroll to id 100K+ · 4.9★ (225)
wp.org #14 ↓4 15 
Duplicate Post 300K+ · 4.9★ (1,626)
wp.org #22 ↓9 wp.org ranks it 7 places below merit 16 
All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5,233)
wp.org #23 ↓8 wp.org ranks it 7 places below merit 17 
New User Approve 20K+ · 4.3★ (131)
wp.org #15 ↑3 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 18 
Post Type Switcher 200K+ · 4.8★ (255)
wp.org #20 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 19 
CMS Tree Page View – Reorder Pages with a Drag-and-Drop Tree 50K+ · 4.9★ (365)
wp.org #24 ↓13 wp.org ranks it 5 places below merit 20 
Site Kit by Google – Analytics, Search Console, AdSense, Speed 5M+ · 4.2★ (1,014)
wp.org #17 ↑2 wp.org ranks it 3 places above merit 21 
Table of Contents Plus – Automatic Table of Contents for Posts & Pages 200K+ · 4.5★ (187)
wp.org #19 ↓11 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 22 
Bulky – Bulk Edit Products for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.6★ (53)
wp.org #21 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 23 Duplicate Post – duplicate pages, copy content, clone posts 5K+ · 4.7★ (7) thin reviews
wp.org #8 wp.org ranks it 15 places above merit 24 
WP Duplicate Page 60K+ · 4.2★ (16) thin reviews
wp.org #18 ↓4 wp.org ranks it 6 places above merit Merit ranking caps the install boost at 10M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted 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.