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← Rankings

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

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 “grabbing”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 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

Solid Performance – Your No-Code Caching, Performance, & Page Speed Solution shows at wp.org #8 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 4K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

NotificationX – FOMO, Live Sales Notification, WooCommerce Sales Popup, GDPR, Social Proof, Announcement Banner & Floating Notification Bar places #8 on merit, 4.8★ from 228 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 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #1 2 FooGallery Photo Gallery : Image, Video & Masonry Galleries 100K+ · 4.8★ (995) wp.org #2 3 CartBounty – Save and recover abandoned carts for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.8★ (84) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 WPGet API – Connect to any external REST API 10K+ · 5.0★ (32) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 AcyMailing – An Ultimate Newsletter Plugin and Marketing Automation Solution for WordPress 5K+ · 4.8★ (157) wp.org #5 6 Qi Addons For Elementor 200K+ · 4.8★ (205) wp.org #9 ↑2 3 too low 7 PowerPack Lite for Beaver Builder 6K+ · 5.0★ (243) wp.org #17 ↑1 10 too low 8 NotificationX – FOMO, Live Sales Notification, WooCommerce Sales Popup, GDPR, Social Proof, Announcement Banner & Floating Notification Bar 30K+ · 4.8★ (228) wp.org #23 15 too low 9 Forms for Mailchimp by Optin Cat – Grow Your MailChimp List 2K+ · 4.4★ (77) wp.org #15 6 too low 10 Notification Bar, Announcement and Cookie Notice WordPress Plugin – FooBar 3K+ · 4.8★ (10) wp.org #7 ↑2 3 too high 11 WebToffee eCommerce Marketing Automation – Email marketing, Popups, Email customizer 10K+ · 4.8★ (54) wp.org #19 8 too low 12 Woorise – Forms, Quizzes & Giveaways 1K+ · 5.0★ (31) wp.org #20 8 too low 13 Modal Window – create popup modal window 10K+ · 3.8★ (36) wp.org #16 3 too low 14 GetResponse Forms by Optin Cat 1K+ · 4.9★ (9) wp.org #14 15 Marquee Addons for Elementor – Essential Motion Widgets & Templates 20K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #12 ↑9 3 too high 16 Slider Block by Sliderberg – Slider & Carousel Plugin for Block Editor 2K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #13 3 too high 17 WP Scraper 2K+ · 4.5★ (23) wp.org #22 ↓2 5 too low 18 WP Anything Downloader 3K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #6 12 too high 19 Cryptex | E-Mail Address Protection 800+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #11 ↓4 8 too high 20 Animated Text Block – Add Typing and Looping Text Effects 4K+ · 4.8★ (5) wp.org #21 ↓9 1 too low 21 Solid Performance – Your No-Code Caching, Performance, & Page Speed Solution 4K+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #8 ↑2 13 too high 22 Attention-Grabbing Browser Tab Titles 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 ↓2 12 too high 23 QODE Quick View for WooCommerce 10K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 ↓1 5 too high 24 ZipMyMedia 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24 ↓2

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.