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

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 “exhibit”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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

WT Widgets for Elementor shows at wp.org #13 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 1.5★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Addon Elements for Elementor (formerly Elementor Addon Elements) 80K+ · 4.8★ (172) wp.org #3 2 too low 2 Mail Queue 1K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Catch Gallery 10K+ · 4.0★ (16) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Exclusive Addons for Elementor 50K+ · 4.7★ (47) wp.org #6 ↑1 2 too low 5 Qi Blocks 60K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #5 ↑1 6 Membership For WooCommerce 800+ · 4.4★ (28) wp.org #12 ↑1 6 too low 7 Zeffy Donate Button 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #4 ↑1 3 too high 8 Widgets for Social Photo Feed 10K+ · 4.7★ (28) wp.org #22 ↑1 14 too low 9 Product Table For WooCommerce 500+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #10 1 too low 10 WP Roadmap – Product Feedback Board 100+ · 3.9★ (7) wp.org #7 ↑1 3 too high 11 Enter Addons – Ultimate Template Builder for Elementor 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #9 ↑2 2 too high 12 B2B Product Catalog – No E-Commerce, Global RFQ & Bulk Quote 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #11 ↑1 1 too high 13 Classified Listing Toolkits 4K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 ↑1 5 too high 14 Herodotus – On This Day 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #14 15 IA Magic Galleries 30+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 16 Analytical Spam Filter 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 2 too low 17 HT Service – Roofing Service WordPress Plugin 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 2 too low 18 Reusable QR Codes — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 2 too low 19 RWC Team Members – Team Showcase, Staff Directory & Profiles 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 ↑1 3 too high 20 Cybershield Firewall 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 Free Google Reviews widget by OpenWidget 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 22 Variation Swatches for WooCommerce 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 ↓1 1 too low 23 WT Widgets for Elementor 300+ · 1.5★ (2) wp.org #13 ↑1 10 too high 24 CatalogIt Collections Publisher 30+ · 1.0★ (1) wp.org #17 ↓1 7 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.