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

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 “fancy”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 2 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

Fancy Post Grid – Ultimate Post Grid Builder shows at wp.org #3 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

PowerPack Lite for Beaver Builder places #11 on merit, 5.0★ from 243 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #1 2 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #6 ↑2 4 too low 3 ARI Fancy Lightbox – Popup for WordPress 10K+ · 4.7★ (71) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Scriptless Social Sharing 10K+ · 5.0★ (70) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Simple Download Monitor 20K+ · 4.7★ (158) wp.org #11 ↑4 6 too low 6 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #14 ↑2 8 too low 7 Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205) wp.org #10 ↑1 3 too low 8 Simple Banner – Easily add multiple Banners/Bars/Notifications/Announcements to the top or bottom of your website 50K+ · 4.8★ (45) wp.org #9 ↑1 1 too low 9 WP-PageNavi 400K+ · 4.7★ (149) wp.org #12 ↓3 3 too low 10 Theme Editor 50K+ · 4.6★ (128) wp.org #15 ↓3 5 too low 11 PowerPack Lite for Beaver Builder 6K+ · 5.0★ (243) wp.org #21 10 too low 12 Reusable Blocks Extended 10K+ · 4.8★ (40) wp.org #17 ↓3 5 too low 13 Gutenberg Essential Blocks – Page Builder for Gutenberg Blocks & Patterns 100K+ · 4.9★ (216) wp.org #24 11 too low 14 GutenBee – Gutenberg Blocks 6K+ · 4.9★ (18) wp.org #13 1 too high 15 Divi Torque Lite 50K+ · 4.7★ (116) wp.org #16 ↑1 1 too low 16 XML Sitemap & Google News 100K+ · 4.4★ (85) wp.org #23 7 too low 17 Admin Slug Column 5K+ · 4.9★ (31) wp.org #18 1 too low 18 Fancy Elements for Avada 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #2 16 too high 19 Page Builder: Pagelayer – Drag and Drop website builder 400K+ · 3.9★ (104) wp.org #20 1 too low 20 Fancy Post Grid – Ultimate Post Grid Builder 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #3 17 too high 21 Fancy Elementor Flipbox 4K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #7 ↓1 14 too high 22 F Fancy Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode 200+ · 3.0★ (10) wp.org #8 ↓1 14 too high 23 SKT Skill Bar 1K+ · 4.1★ (14) wp.org #19 4 too high 24 Slideshow SE 2K+ · 4.9★ (8) 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.