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

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 menu”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 of the top 20. 2 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 #11 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 13 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

Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 1680 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Simple Floating Menu 10K+ · 5.0★ (38) wp.org #1 2

Sticky Menu & Sticky Header 90K+ · 4.7★ (763) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too low 3

Float menu – awesome floating side menu 30K+ · 4.4★ (41) wp.org #2 ↑1 1 too high 4

Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) not PHP-currentheavy footprint wp.org #6 ↑1 2 too low 5

My Sticky Bar – Floating Notification Bar & Sticky Header (formerly myStickymenu) 100K+ · 4.9★ (1199) wp.org #10 ↓1 5 too low 6

Buttonizer – Floating Menus, Sticky Buttons, & Popup Builder 70K+ · 4.5★ (151) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too low 7

XT Floating Cart for WooCommerce 4K+ · 4.6★ (149) wp.org #12 5 too low 8

TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #20 ↓2 12 too low 9

Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #17 ↑2 8 too low 10

Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #24 14 too low 11

ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #22 ↑2 11 too low 12

Side Menu Lite – Sticky Floating Side Menu 7K+ · 4.0★ (12) thin reviews wp.org #5 7 too high 13

WP Sticky Sidebar – Floating Sidebar On Scroll for Any Theme 10K+ · 4.9★ (153) wp.org #21 8 too low 14

F12 Floating Menu, sticky menu for WordPress 300+ · 5.0★ (4) thin reviews wp.org #4 10 too high 15

Floating Chat Buttons – Click to Call or Chat, Email 1K+ · 4.9★ (54) wp.org #23 ↓1 8 too low 16

Food Menu – Restaurant Menu & Online Ordering for WooCommerce 2K+ · 5.0★ (24) thin reviews wp.org #19 ↓2 3 too low 17

Bubble Menu – Floating Button Menu with Sticky Navigation 1K+ · 4.2★ (9) thin reviews wp.org #8 9 too high 18

Ultimate Floating Widgets – Make popup sidebars 3K+ · 4.9★ (14) thin reviews wp.org #15 3 too high 19

Floating Contact Button for MAX and Telegram 1K+ · 5.0★ (7) thin reviews wp.org #14 5 too high 20

Animated Floating Chat Button 4K+ · 5.0★ (6) thin reviews wp.org #13 7 too high 21

Floating Button – Easily Create Sticky, Fixed & Floating Buttons 4K+ · 3.0★ (15) thin reviews wp.org #9 ↑1 12 too high 22

Floating Contact Button 1K+ · 4.6★ (8) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #16 6 too high 23

Sticky Buttons – Floating Buttons Builder 10K+ · 3.7★ (6) thin reviews wp.org #18 ↑2 5 too high 24

Floating Side Tab 600+ · 5.0★ (2) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #11 13 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.