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← Rankings

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

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 “floating”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 of the top 20. 4 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

Blog Floating Button shows at wp.org #2 but places #15 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 8K+ 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

All-in-one Sticky Floating Contact Form, Call, Click to Chat, and 50+ Social Icon Tabs – My Sticky Elements places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 542 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Simple Floating Menu 10K+ · 5.0★ (38) wp.org #1 2 Floating Chat Widget: Contact Chat Icons, Telegram Chat, Line Messenger, WeChat, Email, SMS, Call Button – Chaty 300K+ · 5.0★ (1244) wp.org #5 ↑7 3 too low 3 My Sticky Bar – Floating Notification Bar & Sticky Header (formerly myStickymenu) 100K+ · 4.9★ (1199) wp.org #9 ↓6 6 too low 4 XT Floating Cart for WooCommerce 4K+ · 4.6★ (149) wp.org #7 3 too low 5 Advanced Floating Content Lite 7K+ · 4.1★ (30) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too high 6 Animated Floating Chat Button 4K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #3 ↑1 3 too high 7 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #12 ↑5 5 too low 8 WP Sticky Sidebar – Floating Sidebar On Scroll for Any Theme 10K+ · 4.9★ (153) wp.org #14 ↓1 6 too low 9 All-in-one Sticky Floating Contact Form, Call, Click to Chat, and 50+ Social Icon Tabs – My Sticky Elements 40K+ · 4.9★ (542) wp.org #19 ↑1 10 too low 10 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #20 ↑1 10 too low 11 Ultimate Floating Widgets – Make popup sidebars 3K+ · 4.9★ (14) wp.org #6 5 too high 12 Buttonizer – Floating Menus, Sticky Buttons, & Popup Builder 70K+ · 4.5★ (151) wp.org #11 ↓1 1 too high 13 Floating Chat Buttons – Click to Call or Chat, Email 1K+ · 4.9★ (54) wp.org #18 5 too low 14 Float menu – awesome floating side menu 30K+ · 4.4★ (41) wp.org #15 1 too low 15 Blog Floating Button 8K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #2 13 too high 16 Floating Contact Button 1K+ · 4.6★ (8) wp.org #8 8 too high 17 Floating Button – Easily Create Sticky, Fixed & Floating Buttons 4K+ · 3.0★ (15) wp.org #10 ↓1 7 too high 18 Floating Contact Button for MAX and Telegram 1K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #17 ↓1 1 too high 19 Addonify Floating Cart For WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #21 ↓2 2 too low 20 Side Menu Lite – Sticky Floating Side Menu 7K+ · 4.0★ (12) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 Sticky Floating Forms Lite 800+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #16 ↓2 5 too high 22 F12 Floating Menu, sticky menu for WordPress 300+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #22 ↑1 23 Bolt CTA Button – Floating Call Button for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #23 ↓1 24 Floating Side Tab 600+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #13 ↓2 11 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.