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

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 “editorial”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 2 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

Multicollab: Content Team Collaboration and Editorial Workflow shows at wp.org #9 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.7★ average from 10 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets places #8 on merit, 4.9★ from 4132 reviews, but shows at wp.org #13. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Editorial Calendar 20K+ · 4.9★ (79) wp.org #1 2 PublishPress Planner – Editorial Calendar, Marketing Content, Kanban Board 6K+ · 4.9★ (178) wp.org #2 3 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #5 ↓2 2 too low 4 Nelio Content – Editorial Calendar & Social Media Auto-Posting 3K+ · 4.4★ (104) wp.org #4 ↑1 5 SchedulePress – Auto Post & Publish, Auto Social Share, Schedule Posts with Editorial Calendar & Missed Schedule Post Publisher 10K+ · 4.6★ (201) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 ECS – Ele Custom Skin for Elementor 100K+ · 4.6★ (117) wp.org #7 ↑1 1 too low 7 Category Order and Taxonomy Terms Order 500K+ · 4.5★ (162) wp.org #10 3 too low 8 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #13 ↓2 5 too low 9 Editorial Rating – Product Review & Rating System 200+ · 4.4★ (13) wp.org #3 ↑1 6 too high 10 Edit Flow 4K+ · 4.2★ (50) wp.org #12 ↑1 2 too low 11 Create 6K+ · 4.3★ (25) wp.org #11 ↑4 12 AI 60K+ · 4.2★ (10) wp.org #8 ↓1 4 too high 13 PublishPress Permissions: Access Control, Content Permissions, User Access 10K+ · 4.3★ (66) wp.org #21 ↓4 8 too low 14 Oasis Workflow 600+ · 4.8★ (51) wp.org #23 ↓3 9 too low 15 BlockSpare – Gutenberg Blocks, AI Content Generator & Site Builder for news, magazine, blog and business sites 10K+ · 4.8★ (34) wp.org #20 ↓4 5 too low 16 Content Egg – Affiliate Product Importer & Price Comparison 10K+ · 3.9★ (56) wp.org #14 2 too high 17 Hide Posts 20K+ · 4.7★ (22) wp.org #22 ↓3 5 too low 18 Multicollab: Content Team Collaboration and Editorial Workflow 300+ · 3.7★ (10) wp.org #9 9 too high 19 WP Top News — Build a Complete News Portal in WordPress 800+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #19 20 Duplicate Post – duplicate pages, copy content, clone posts 5K+ · 4.7★ (7) wp.org #17 3 too high 21 Justify for Paragraph Block 3K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #24 ↓2 3 too low 22 Leenkat Editorial Tracker 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 7 too high 23 Editorial Workflow Manager 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↓4 7 too high 24 Newsroom OS – Google Discover, Google News, Schema & Editorial Workflow 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 ↑3 6 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.