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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “feature toggles”

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 “feature toggles”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

Toggle Content shows at wp.org #7 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 700+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ average from 6 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI places #5 on merit, 4.8★ from 27820 reviews, but shows at wp.org #9. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5040) wp.org #1 2 Dark Mode Toggle 2K+ · 4.6★ (19) wp.org #2 3 Loco Translate 1M+ · 4.8★ (453) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (808) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27820) wp.org #9 ↑1 4 too low 6 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #8 ↑1 2 too low 7 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #10 ↓2 3 too low 8 Max Mega Menu 300K+ · 4.8★ (882) wp.org #12 4 too low 9 Simple History – Track, Log, and Audit WordPress Changes 300K+ · 4.9★ (491) wp.org #13 ↓2 4 too low 10 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #14 ↑2 4 too low 11 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #15 ↑2 4 too low 12 Accordion Toggle 2K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #3 9 too high 13 SVG Support 1M+ · 4.8★ (356) wp.org #11 ↑2 2 too high 14 Dark Mode – Improve Accessibility with AI Powered Dark Theme 20K+ · 4.5★ (391) wp.org #19 5 too low 15 Turn Off AI Features 400+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #4 11 too high 16 Kadence WooCommerce Email Designer 90K+ · 4.5★ (142) wp.org #18 2 too low 17 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #17 ↑3 18 SiteOrigin Widgets Bundle 400K+ · 4.9★ (134) wp.org #23 5 too low 19 WP Accessibility 60K+ · 4.8★ (68) wp.org #22 3 too low 20 Quick and Easy FAQs 10K+ · 4.6★ (36) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 Toggle Content 700+ · 3.0★ (6) wp.org #7 14 too high 22 Changeloger – Changelog, Release Notes, Roadmap & Feature Requests 200+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #16 ↓2 6 too high 23 Simple SEO Noindex Toggle 60+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #20 ↑3 3 too high 24 Great Feature Toggle – Feature Flags for WordPress — · 0.0★ (0) 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.