wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “editor”
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 “editor”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 of the top 20. 4 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
Snow Monkey Editor shows at wp.org #15 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 30K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 27821 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
Classic Editor 8M+ · 4.9★ (1251)
wp.org #1 2 
Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281)
wp.org #3 1 too low 3 
Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) heavy footprint
wp.org #2 ↑5 1 too high 4 
Checkout Field Editor (Checkout Manager) for WooCommerce 400K+ · 4.9★ (1056)
wp.org #6 ↓1 2 too low 5 
User Role Editor 700K+ · 4.5★ (288)
wp.org #4 1 too high 6 
Advanced Editor Tools 1M+ · 4.5★ (354)
wp.org #5 ↓3 1 too high 7 
Admin Menu Editor 300K+ · 4.6★ (312)
wp.org #7 ↓1 8 
Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) not PHP-currentheavy footprint
wp.org #8 9 
User Profile Builder – Beautiful User Registration Forms, User Profiles & User Role Editor 40K+ · 4.7★ (738)
wp.org #12 ↑5 3 too low 10 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821)
wp.org #19 ↑5 9 too low 11 
Classic Editor + 30K+ · 4.9★ (31)
wp.org #9 ↑1 2 too high 12 
Htaccess File Editor – Safely Edit Htaccess File 40K+ · 5.0★ (102)
wp.org #14 2 too low 13 
Otter Blocks – Gutenberg Blocks, Page Builder for Gutenberg Editor & FSE 300K+ · 4.7★ (251) heavy footprint
wp.org #13 ↓1 14 
BEAR – Bulk Editor for WooCommerce Professional. AI assistant on board (MCP Server) 30K+ · 4.7★ (228) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #10 ↓1 4 too high 15 
Theme Editor 50K+ · 4.6★ (128)
wp.org #16 ↓3 1 too low 16 
BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #11 5 too high 17 
HTML Editor Syntax Highlighter 60K+ · 4.4★ (110)
wp.org #18 1 too low 18 
WP Editor 20K+ · 4.5★ (95)
wp.org #21 ↓5 3 too low 19 
WPFront User Role Editor 30K+ · 4.5★ (65)
wp.org #24 ↓2 5 too low 20 
Spectra Blocks – AI Website Builder for the Block Editor 60K+ · 4.6★ (53) heavy footprint
wp.org #22 ↓1 2 too low 21 
Better Block Editor (BBE) 6K+ · 5.0★ (11) not PHP-current thin reviews
wp.org #17 ↑6 4 too high 22 
Block Editor Colors 3K+ · 4.8★ (13) thin reviews
wp.org #23 ↓3 1 too low 23 
Classic Editor and Classic Widgets 20K+ · 5.0★ (5) thin reviews
wp.org #20 ↓2 3 too high 24 Snow Monkey Editor 30K+ · 4.0★ (5) thin reviews
wp.org #15 9 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.