Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “eye strain”

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 “eye strain”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 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

MH-Accessibility shows at wp.org #9 but places #15 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 10+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 DarkLooks – Dark Mode Switcher For WordPress 800+ · 4.8★ (16) wp.org #1 2 Chat Widget: Floating Customer Support Button for 30+ Channels, Supporting SMS, Calls, and Chat – Bit Assist 9K+ · 4.9★ (111) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Dark Mode Toggle 2K+ · 4.6★ (19) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 DarkMySite – Advanced Dark Mode Plugin for WordPress 900+ · 4.7★ (14) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Dark Reader – Beautiful Dark Mode for any Website 200+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Library Management System 200+ · 4.4★ (14) wp.org #23 ↑1 17 too low 7 Night Eye – Dark Mode Plugin 50+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #19 ↑1 12 too low 8 FooSales – Point of Sale (POS) for WooCommerce 600+ · 3.2★ (13) wp.org #22 ↑1 14 too low 9 D Dark Mode Block — · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #20 ↑1 11 too low 10 B Big Emoji Comments 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 ↑1 3 too high 11 DBlocks CodePro 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 5 too high 12 Kortech Document Editor — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 ↑1 4 too high 13 Nightly Dark Mode 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 ↑1 3 too high 14 Lumino Dark Mode — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 ↑1 3 too high 15 MH-Accessibility 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 ↑1 6 too high 16 GrowthHive Dark Mode — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↑1 4 too high 17 Mypage SEO Content Studio 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #21 ↑1 4 too low 18 Accessibility Magic — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 ↑1 5 too high 19 Darklio – AI-Powered Dark Mode Plugin for WordPress — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↑1 5 too high 20 Midgardsson Accessibility Toolkit — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 ↑1 5 too high 21 Utility for GeneratePress 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↑2 5 too high 22 Light & Dark Mode Switcher — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 5 too high 23 Night Mode for WordPress 70+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 YeePOS – PWA Point of Sale for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 ↑1 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.