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← Rankings

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

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 “float”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

Float Payment Gateway shows at wp.org #9 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

My Sticky Bar – Floating Notification Bar & Sticky Header (formerly myStickymenu) places #6 on merit, 4.9★ from 1199 reviews, but shows at wp.org #11. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Float menu – awesome floating side menu 30K+ · 4.4★ (41) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Menu Cart for WooCommerce 70K+ · 4.6★ (99) wp.org #3 4 Social Media Share Buttons & Social Sharing Icons 100K+ · 4.8★ (5333) wp.org #8 ↓4 4 too low 5 ECS – Ele Custom Skin for Elementor 100K+ · 4.6★ (117) wp.org #6 ↑2 1 too low 6 My Sticky Bar – Floating Notification Bar & Sticky Header (formerly myStickymenu) 100K+ · 4.9★ (1199) wp.org #11 ↓2 5 too low 7 Hover Effects – easily create any hover effect 7K+ · 4.8★ (17) wp.org #4 ↑1 3 too high 8 QuadMenu – Mega Menu 10K+ · 4.5★ (270) wp.org #12 ↑1 4 too low 9 WP Menu Cart 8K+ · 4.8★ (23) wp.org #7 2 too high 10 Side Menu Lite – Sticky Floating Side Menu 7K+ · 4.0★ (12) wp.org #5 ↑1 5 too high 11 Visual CSS Style Editor 30K+ · 4.1★ (90) wp.org #15 4 too low 12 Flip Cards Module For Divi 3K+ · 4.9★ (32) wp.org #16 4 too low 13 WP Airbnb Review Slider 1K+ · 5.0★ (56) wp.org #22 ↓1 9 too low 14 360 Javascript Viewer 1K+ · 5.0★ (13) wp.org #13 1 too high 15 Buttonizer – Floating Menus, Sticky Buttons, & Popup Builder 70K+ · 4.5★ (151) wp.org #18 3 too low 16 Floating Social Share Icons and Social Share buttons – Next Previous Post Links – FL 200+ · 4.7★ (73) wp.org #21 5 too low 17 Quill Forms | Conversational Multi Step Forms, Surveys & quizzes 3K+ · 4.8★ (44) wp.org #23 ↓1 6 too low 18 Floating Button – Easily Create Sticky, Fixed & Floating Buttons 4K+ · 3.0★ (15) wp.org #10 ↓1 8 too high 19 Bubble Menu – Floating Button Menu with Sticky Navigation 1K+ · 4.2★ (9) wp.org #14 5 too high 20 Simple Sticky Add To Cart For WooCommerce 800+ · 4.3★ (39) wp.org #24 ↓1 4 too low 21 Sticky Social Link 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #19 2 too high 22 Float Payment Gateway 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 ↑2 13 too high 23 WP Counter Up – Animated Number Counter & Milestone Showcase 1K+ · 4.0★ (5) wp.org #20 3 too high 24 MaxBoxy: Make WordPress Floating Content, Popup, Alert Bar 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 7 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.