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← Rankings

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

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 “expanding”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

DesignSetGo shows at wp.org #12 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 8K+ 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

Widget Options – Advanced Conditional Visibility for Gutenberg Blocks & Classic Widgets places #8 on merit, 4.9★ from 1516 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 User Profile Builder – Beautiful User Registration Forms, User Profiles & User Role Editor 40K+ · 4.7★ (738) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 GeoDirectory – WP Business Directory Plugin and Classified Listings Directory 10K+ · 4.8★ (716) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Paid Membership Subscriptions – Effortless Memberships, Recurring Payments & Content Restriction 10K+ · 4.7★ (270) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 E Expanding Archives 3K+ · 4.7★ (6) wp.org #1 3 too high 5 JS Categories List Widget 1K+ · 4.8★ (15) wp.org #5 6 MultiVendorX – WooCommerce Multivendor Marketplace AI Powered Solutions 2K+ · 4.8★ (432) wp.org #10 4 too low 7 Robo Gallery – Photo & Image Slider 40K+ · 4.3★ (406) wp.org #15 8 too low 8 Widget Options – Advanced Conditional Visibility for Gutenberg Blocks & Classic Widgets 100K+ · 4.9★ (1516) wp.org #24 16 too low 9 Unlimited Elements for Elementor 300K+ · 4.8★ (525) wp.org #22 13 too low 10 Collapsing Categories 4K+ · 4.1★ (57) wp.org #7 3 too high 11 Iks Menu – WordPress Category Accordion Menu & FAQs 10K+ · 5.0★ (27) wp.org #13 2 too low 12 Panda Pods Repeater Field 500+ · 4.5★ (11) wp.org #9 3 too high 13 Migrate to WordPress.com 2K+ · 4.7★ (9) wp.org #8 5 too high 14 GutSlider – All in One Slider and Carousel Blocks for Gutenberg 6K+ · 4.9★ (14) wp.org #14 15 Super Web Share – Native Social Sharing Button 2K+ · 4.9★ (29) wp.org #23 8 too low 16 TrustMate.io – WooCommerce integration 3K+ · 4.0★ (10) wp.org #6 10 too high 17 Simple Slider Block – Create Sliders From Core Blocks 600+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #11 6 too high 18 Feeds for TikTok (TikTok feed, video, and gallery plugin) 70K+ · 4.3★ (11) wp.org #16 2 too high 19 GravityWP – CSS Selector 4K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #17 2 too high 20 Slider, Image Slider & Carousel by Slider Factory – Responsive Slideshow, Video Slider 2K+ · 4.5★ (13) wp.org #18 2 too high 21 Angie – Agentic AI 100K+ · 3.3★ (20) wp.org #19 2 too high 22 QA Assistants – Driven by data 2K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #20 2 too high 23 DesignSetGo 8K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #12 11 too high 24 Qode Essential Addons 10K+ · 2.8★ (6) wp.org #21 3 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.