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

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 panel”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 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

Floating Side Tab shows at wp.org #7 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 12 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

All-in-one Sticky Floating Contact Form, Call, Click to Chat, and 50+ Social Icon Tabs – My Sticky Elements places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 542 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #1 2 Simple Floating Menu 10K+ · 5.0★ (38) wp.org #2 3 My Sticky Bar – Floating Notification Bar & Sticky Header (formerly myStickymenu) 100K+ · 4.9★ (1199) wp.org #10 7 too low 4 XT Floating Cart for WooCommerce 4K+ · 4.6★ (149) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #13 8 too low 6 Floating Chat Widget: Contact Chat Icons, Telegram Chat, Line Messenger, WeChat, Email, SMS, Call Button – Chaty 300K+ · 5.0★ (1244) wp.org #15 9 too low 7 Floating Chat Buttons – Click to Call or Chat, Email 1K+ · 4.9★ (54) wp.org #9 2 too low 8 Animated Floating Chat Button 4K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #3 5 too high 9 Buttonizer – Floating Menus, Sticky Buttons, & Popup Builder 70K+ · 4.5★ (151) wp.org #12 3 too low 10 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 #20 ↓1 10 too low 11 Float menu – awesome floating side menu 30K+ · 4.4★ (41) wp.org #11 12 Floating Contact Button 1K+ · 4.6★ (8) wp.org #5 7 too high 13 Floating Social Share Icons and Social Share buttons – Next Previous Post Links – FL 200+ · 4.7★ (73) wp.org #16 3 too low 14 Floating Button – Easily Create Sticky, Fixed & Floating Buttons 4K+ · 3.0★ (15) wp.org #4 10 too high 15 Floating Contact Button for MAX and Telegram 1K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #8 7 too high 16 Modern Cart – WooCommerce Side Cart & Popup Cart 60K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #23 ↓1 7 too low 17 Floating Cart Product For WooCommerce 300+ · 4.3★ (7) wp.org #14 3 too high 18 Dashboard To-Do List 1K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #22 ↓1 4 too low 19 Floating Side Tab 600+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #7 12 too high 20 Side Menu Lite – Sticky Floating Side Menu 7K+ · 4.0★ (12) wp.org #21 ↓1 1 too low 21 Bolt CTA Button – Floating Call Button for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #18 ↓1 3 too high 22 Sticky Buttons – Floating Buttons Builder 10K+ · 3.7★ (6) wp.org #19 ↓1 3 too high 23 Floating Minicart for WooCommerce 200+ · 3.6★ (7) wp.org #17 ↓1 6 too high 24 OffCanvas / Drawer – add sleek slide-in panels to any page 900+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24

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.