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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “flash menus”

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 “flash menus”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 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

YLabs AI Site Manager with ChatGPT and Claude shows at wp.org #7 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 5K+ 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.

Buried gem

GEO Plugin by Squirrly SEO places #6 on merit, 4.6★ from 683 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 ECS – Ele Custom Skin for Elementor 100K+ · 4.6★ (117) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 ShopLentor – All-in-One WooCommerce Growth & Store Enhancement Plugin 80K+ · 4.5★ (278) wp.org #4 ↓1 2 too low 3 GutenKit – Page Builder Blocks, Patterns, and Templates for Gutenberg Block Editor 80K+ · 4.5★ (48) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 ShopBuilder – WooCommerce Builder For Elementor 10K+ · 4.7★ (18) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 EleSpare – Elementor News, Magazine & Blog Addons with Post Grid 10K+ · 4.9★ (44) wp.org #9 ↓2 4 too low 6 GEO Plugin by Squirrly SEO 30K+ · 4.6★ (683) wp.org #16 ↓4 10 too low 7 FV Flowplayer Video Player 10K+ · 4.4★ (90) wp.org #10 ↓1 3 too low 8 Flash Cache 20+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #1 7 too high 9 WPBot – AI ChatBot for Live Support, Lead Generation, WordPress Automation, AI Services 5K+ · 4.7★ (124) wp.org #12 ↓1 3 too low 10 GSpeech TTS – WordPress Text To Speech Plugin 3K+ · 4.8★ (178) wp.org #15 5 too low 11 Rearrange Products for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.6★ (58) wp.org #14 3 too low 12 Listdom: AI-powered Business Directory with Classifieds Ads Listings 1K+ · 4.9★ (60) wp.org #18 ↑2 6 too low 13 wiseCampaign – WooCommerce Flash Sale, Countdown Timer, Discount Rules & Sales Notification 40+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #6 7 too high 14 Counter Box – Add Countdowns, Timers & Dynamic Counters to WordPress 1K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #8 6 too high 15 AI Translate: Affordable Context-Aware Translation 60+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #11 ↓1 4 too high 16 Five Star Restaurant Reviews 400+ · 4.9★ (14) wp.org #23 ↓1 7 too low 17 Max Addons for Bricks Builder 1K+ · 4.9★ (9) wp.org #20 ↓1 3 too low 18 Pixel Gallery Addons for Elementor 4K+ · 4.8★ (5) wp.org #19 ↓2 1 too low 19 PolyTranslate AI for Polylang 300+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #17 ↓1 2 too high 20 CopySafe Web Protection – Copy Protect Images 800+ · 4.1★ (12) wp.org #24 ↓1 4 too low 21 M Menu Expiration Control 70+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #13 8 too high 22 YLabs AI Site Manager with ChatGPT and Claude 5K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 15 too high 23 Genolve – AI Business Graphics, Images & Video 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #22 ↓1 1 too high 24 Digital Content Delivery (incl. DRM) by Flickrocket for WooCommerce 50+ · 2.6★ (10) wp.org #21 ↓3 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.