Plugin Pulse
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “inline footnotes”

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 “inline footnotes”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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

External Links to Footnotes shows at wp.org #9 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its — installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

EazyDocs – AI Powered Knowledge Base, Wiki, Documentation & FAQ Builder places #7 on merit, 4.7★ from 99 reviews, but shows at wp.org #13. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Modern Footnotes 6K+ · 4.8★ (32) wp.org #1 2 Footnotes Made Easy 2K+ · 4.6★ (40) wp.org #2 3 M Mammoth .docx converter 20K+ · 4.8★ (62) wp.org #6 3 too low 4 Print My Blog – Print, PDF, & eBook Converter WordPress Plugin 8K+ · 4.8★ (114) wp.org #7 3 too low 5 Blank Footnotes 300+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #3 2 too high 6 Seraphinite Post .DOCX Source 800+ · 4.6★ (45) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 EazyDocs – AI Powered Knowledge Base, Wiki, Documentation & FAQ Builder 2K+ · 4.7★ (99) wp.org #13 6 too low 8 European VAT Compliance Assistant for WooCommerce 3K+ · 4.8★ (26) wp.org #10 ↑1 2 too low 9 Meta Field Block – Display Custom Fields for ACF, Meta Box and More 10K+ · 5.0★ (57) wp.org #15 6 too low 10 Flexible Table Block 40K+ · 4.9★ (34) wp.org #17 7 too low 11 Inline Context 30+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #4 7 too high 12 Toolbelt 300+ · 5.0★ (16) wp.org #19 ↓1 7 too low 13 AidWP – Donation & Payment Forms (Stripe Powered) 800+ · 4.8★ (28) wp.org #24 ↓1 11 too low 14 CiteKit Reference Manager with Footnotes, Citations, Bibliographies, Tooltips and Glossary 70+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #5 9 too high 15 DiveWP – Boost Site Performance with Clear, Actionable Steps 200+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #14 1 too high 16 Protección de datos – RGPD 7K+ · 4.8★ (5) wp.org #21 ↓1 5 too low 17 Blockenberg — 600+ Advanced Gutenberg Blocks & AI Agent for WordPress Block Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #11 ↑1 6 too high 18 MRW Simplified Editor 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #12 ↓2 6 too high 19 External Links to Footnotes — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 10 too high 20 Bristlecone Markdown — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 4 too high 21 E EstudoBiblico Quick Format Toolbar — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 3 too high 22 D Djot Markup — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↓1 2 too high 23 BizzyBees Content Aggregator — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 ↓1 1 too high 24 Gutenberg Blocks for Landing Pages & Sections – ClassicAddons — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↓1 1 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.