Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “facebook posts”

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 posts”, we agree with wp.org 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

Pixel Cat – Conversion Pixel Manager shows at wp.org #7 but places #14 on merit, a gap of 7 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.

Buried gem

Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 2143 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Smash Balloon Social Post Feed – Simple Social Feeds for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (1511) wp.org #1 2 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #2 3 Easy Social Feed – All In One Social Feed Plugin for WordPress 30K+ · 4.6★ (502) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #4 ↓1 5 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #5 6 Social Preview and Open Graph Tags 50K+ · 4.6★ (122) wp.org #6 ↑1 7 SchedulePress – Auto Post & Publish, Auto Social Share, Schedule Posts with Editorial Calendar & Missed Schedule Post Publisher 10K+ · 4.6★ (201) wp.org #8 1 too low 8 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #10 ↑4 2 too low 9 WP2Social Auto Publish 9K+ · 4.8★ (640) wp.org #13 ↓1 4 too low 10 Inline Related Posts 100K+ · 4.3★ (77) wp.org #9 1 too high 11 Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #16 5 too low 12 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #18 ↑1 6 too low 13 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #22 9 too low 14 Pixel Cat – Conversion Pixel Manager 40K+ · 4.0★ (41) wp.org #7 ↓1 7 too high 15 Buttonizer – Social Media Share Buttons, Social Icons, & Social Feeds 40K+ · 4.8★ (396) wp.org #12 ↓1 3 too high 16 WP Review Slider 6K+ · 4.8★ (181) wp.org #11 ↓1 5 too high 17 Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528) wp.org #24 ↓11 7 too low 18 Import Social Events 3K+ · 4.8★ (116) wp.org #20 2 too low 19 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #17 ↓1 2 too high 20 Social LikeBox & Feed 10K+ · 3.3★ (47) wp.org #15 ↑2 5 too high 21 Easy Social Like Box – Popup – Sidebar Widget 6K+ · 4.4★ (18) wp.org #14 ↑1 7 too high 22 Genial Comments 4K+ · 4.8★ (20) wp.org #19 3 too high 23 Simple Like Page – Fast & Privacy-Friendly Page Embeds 10K+ · 4.3★ (24) wp.org #21 2 too high 24 Mitsol Social Post Feed 200+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #23 1 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.