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

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 forms”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 5 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

Floating Side Tab shows at wp.org #9 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 600+ 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

TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation places #12 on merit, 4.7★ from 1667 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #4 ↓1 3 too low 2 Simple Floating Menu 10K+ · 5.0★ (38) wp.org #2 3 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #3 ↑4 4 Ultra Addons for Contact Form 7 60K+ · 4.8★ (107) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Floating Chat Widget: Contact Chat Icons, Telegram Chat, Line Messenger, WeChat, Email, SMS, Call Button – Chaty 300K+ · 5.0★ (1244) wp.org #10 ↑4 5 too low 6 Sticky Floating Forms Lite 800+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #1 5 too high 7 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 #11 ↑1 4 too low 8 My Sticky Bar – Floating Notification Bar & Sticky Header (formerly myStickymenu) 100K+ · 4.9★ (1199) wp.org #12 ↑1 4 too low 9 XT Floating Cart for WooCommerce 4K+ · 4.6★ (149) wp.org #7 ↑2 2 too high 10 Ultimate Floating Widgets – Make popup sidebars 3K+ · 4.9★ (14) wp.org #6 4 too high 11 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #20 9 too low 12 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #23 11 too low 13 Floating Chat Buttons – Click to Call or Chat, Email 1K+ · 4.9★ (54) wp.org #13 ↑2 14 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #16 ↑5 2 too low 15 Buttonizer – Floating Menus, Sticky Buttons, & Popup Builder 70K+ · 4.5★ (151) wp.org #14 ↑2 1 too high 16 CRM Perks Forms – WordPress Form Builder 1K+ · 4.8★ (32) wp.org #15 ↑2 1 too high 17 Sticky Chat Widget – Floating Chat Icons, Contact Form, Call, Click to Chat, Email & Message Buttons 10K+ · 5.0★ (39) wp.org #24 7 too low 18 GSheetConnector – Elementor Forms Google Sheet Connector to Sync Submissions to Google Sheets 9K+ · 5.0★ (14) wp.org #18 ↑1 19 CF7 Apps – Addons for Contact Form 7 (Honeypot, Database, Redirection, Webhook, etc.) 300K+ · 3.8★ (135) wp.org #17 ↓6 2 too high 20 Floating Contact Button 1K+ · 4.6★ (8) wp.org #8 12 too high 21 Sense Forms 200+ · 4.9★ (10) wp.org #22 ↓18 1 too low 22 Addonify Floating Cart For WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #19 ↓1 3 too high 23 ChatHelp – Click to Chat Button, Chat to Order for WooCommerce & Floating Chat Form 2K+ · 4.4★ (9) wp.org #21 ↑1 2 too high 24 Floating Side Tab 600+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #9 ↑1 15 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.