Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “hidden text”

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

eRecht24 Legal Texts shows at wp.org #7 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 50K+ 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

Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 1463 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 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #1 2 Image Alt Text 10K+ · 5.0★ (56) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 Text To Speech TTS Accessibility 4K+ · 4.8★ (92) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #9 ↓3 5 too low 5 DTX – Dynamic Text Extension for Contact Form 7 100K+ · 4.7★ (99) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #12 ↓2 6 too low 7 GSpeech TTS – WordPress Text To Speech Plugin 3K+ · 4.8★ (178) wp.org #15 ↓1 8 too low 8 Ninja Forms – Contact Form Builder with Calculators, Quizzes, Signatures & AI Form Builder 500K+ · 4.4★ (1397) wp.org #20 ↓4 12 too low 9 Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense 90K+ · 4.9★ (1463) wp.org #23 14 too low 10 Ultra Addons for Contact Form 7 60K+ · 4.8★ (107) wp.org #19 9 too low 11 Nested Pages 90K+ · 4.7★ (126) wp.org #18 ↓1 7 too low 12 AI Alt Text Generator 2K+ · 4.9★ (7) wp.org #6 ↓3 6 too high 13 Animated Text Block – Add Typing and Looping Text Effects 4K+ · 4.8★ (5) wp.org #5 8 too high 14 Conditional Fields for Contact Form 7 100K+ · 4.8★ (166) wp.org #16 ↓5 2 too low 15 Quran multilanguage Text & Audio 400+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #10 ↓3 5 too high 16 Read More Without Refresh 20K+ · 4.2★ (55) wp.org #21 ↓3 5 too low 17 Text to Speech – TTSWP 200+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #8 9 too high 18 Text to Speech – Reinvent WP 40+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #17 ↓2 1 too high 19 ImgSEO – AI Image Alt Text Generator & Image SEO Tools 400+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #14 ↓1 5 too high 20 SOOZ – AI for SEO – Bulk Generate Focus Keyphrases, Metadata, Alt Text (SEO Autopilot) 2K+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #24 ↓2 4 too low 21 Awesome Guten Text – 8 Powerful Blocks for Gutenberg 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #13 ↓1 8 too high 22 Filikod – Alt Text Checker & Bulk Image Alt Text Editor 200+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #22 ↓2 23 eRecht24 Legal Texts 50K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 ↓2 16 too high 24 Dynamic Text Field For Contact Form 7 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 ↓2 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.