wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “facebook post”
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 “facebook post”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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
Pixel Cat – Conversion Pixel Manager shows at wp.org #10 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 40K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 41 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322)
wp.org #1 ↑2 2 
Smash Balloon Social Post Feed – Simple Social Feeds for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (1511)
wp.org #2 3 
Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528)
wp.org #3 ↓2 4 
Easy Social Feed – All In One Social Feed Plugin for WordPress 30K+ · 4.6★ (502)
wp.org #4 ↑1 5 
Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7520)
wp.org #5 ↓1 6 
Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408)
wp.org #6 ↑3 7 
The Post Grid – Shortcode, Gutenberg Blocks and Elementor Addon for Post Grid 100K+ · 4.8★ (265)
wp.org #9 ↓1 2 too low 8 
Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132)
wp.org #11 ↑1 3 too low 9 
Social Preview and Open Graph Tags 50K+ · 4.6★ (122)
wp.org #8 ↓2 1 too high 10 
Ultimate Post Kit – Elementor Post Grid, Post Carousel, Post Slider & Blog Layout Widgets 30K+ · 4.8★ (58)
wp.org #7 3 too high 11 
Buttonizer – Social Media Share Buttons, Social Icons, & Social Feeds 40K+ · 4.8★ (396)
wp.org #13 ↑1 2 too low 12 
WP2Social Auto Publish 9K+ · 4.8★ (640)
wp.org #14 ↑1 2 too low 13 
Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144)
wp.org #16 ↑2 3 too low 14 
Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27820)
wp.org #20 6 too low 15 
WP Review Slider 6K+ · 4.8★ (181)
wp.org #12 ↓1 3 too high 16 
Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667)
wp.org #17 1 too low 17 
WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833)
wp.org #18 ↓2 1 too low 18 Pixel Cat – Conversion Pixel Manager 40K+ · 4.0★ (41)
wp.org #10 8 too high 19 
Revive Social – Social Media Auto Post and Scheduling Automation Plugin 20K+ · 4.0★ (556)
wp.org #23 ↓2 4 too low 20 
Import Social Events 3K+ · 4.8★ (116)
wp.org #24 ↓1 4 too low 21 
Easy Social Like Box – Popup – Sidebar Widget 6K+ · 4.4★ (18) thin reviews
wp.org #15 ↑2 6 too high 22 
Social LikeBox & Feed 10K+ · 3.3★ (47)
wp.org #19 ↑1 3 too high 23 
Genial Comments 4K+ · 4.8★ (20) thin reviews
wp.org #21 2 too high 24 
Social Post Flow – Social Media Automation, Scheduling, Scheduler, Posting & Auto Post 200+ · 4.2★ (10) thin reviews
wp.org #22 2 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.