Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “hotkeys”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Product Designer App shows at wp.org #6 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 18 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 1.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Brizy – Page Builder places #5 on merit, 4.7★ from 972 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 HTML Editor Syntax Highlighter 60K+ · 4.4★ (110) wp.org #1 2 Colibri Page Builder 80K+ · 4.4★ (80) wp.org #2 3 All-in-One Video Gallery – Video Player & Galleries for YouTube, Vimeo & Self-Hosted Videos 20K+ · 4.8★ (136) wp.org #3 4 JivoChat Live Chat – WP live chat plugin for WordPress 10K+ · 4.9★ (710) wp.org #12 ↓1 8 too low 5 Brizy – Page Builder 60K+ · 4.7★ (972) wp.org #18 13 too low 6 Woody Code Snippets – Insert PHP, CSS, JS, and Header/Footer Scripts 50K+ · 4.5★ (221) wp.org #14 8 too low 7 Floating Awesome Button (Sticky Button, Popup, Toast) & 200+ Website Custom Interactive Element 700+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #5 2 too high 8 Umnico Live Chat 20+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #8 9 WindPress – Tailwind CSS integration for WordPress 3K+ · 5.0★ (37) wp.org #19 10 too low 10 Secure Copy Content Protection and Content Locking 20K+ · 4.3★ (62) wp.org #20 10 too low 11 Admin Search 1K+ · 4.5★ (18) wp.org #17 6 too low 12 Media Player Addons for Elementor – Audio and Video Widgets for Elementor 1K+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #4 8 too high 13 No copy allowed – Nork Digital 100+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #9 4 too high 14 ska-toolbar 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 7 too high 15 ZW Player Video Embed 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 5 too high 16 Breadbugger — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 ↑1 5 too high 17 DragBlock – WordPress Site & Page Builder with Advanced Blocks 50+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #21 4 too low 18 L Light Multilayer Slider — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 5 too high 19 Painterro 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 3 too high 20 Admin Menu Search (AMS) — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 5 too high 21 tufu AI — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 1 too low 22 Live Chat and ChatBot – ChatAndBot 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 1 too low 23 JetReader – Book Library, EPUB & PDF Reader (Lite) 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 Product Designer App 100+ · 1.0★ (1) wp.org #6 18 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.