Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “inspiring”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 5 of the top 20. 3 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

Funbutler Booking System shows at wp.org #9 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 100+ 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Otter Blocks – Gutenberg Blocks, Page Builder for Gutenberg Editor & FSE 300K+ · 4.7★ (251) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Bible Verse of the Day 3K+ · 4.9★ (11) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 NotificationX – FOMO, Live Sales Notification, WooCommerce Sales Popup, GDPR, Social Proof, Announcement Banner & Floating Notification Bar 30K+ · 4.8★ (228) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 Bricksable for Bricks Builder 10K+ · 5.0★ (61) wp.org #4 5 Slider Block by Sliderberg – Slider & Carousel Plugin for Block Editor 2K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #3 2 too high 6 BlockArt Blocks – Gutenberg Blocks, Page Builder Blocks ,WordPress Block Plugin, Sections & Template Library 10K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #6 7 WPKoi Templates for Elementor 5K+ · 4.6★ (19) wp.org #7 ↑1 8 WC – APG SMS Notifications 300+ · 4.8★ (23) wp.org #8 ↓1 9 Mastodon Autopost 700+ · 4.2★ (21) wp.org #22 13 too low 10 AI Image Generator – Easy image creation with AI 100+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #18 8 too low 11 ShopMagic – Twilio SMS 700+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #10 1 too high 12 Chat Icon 10+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #21 9 too low 13 Getty Images 2K+ · 3.0★ (24) wp.org #23 10 too low 14 JetGridBuilder — Grid Builder for Elementor and Gutenberg 4K+ · 2.8★ (5) wp.org #12 2 too high 15 P Pleasant Viewer 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 2 too high 16 VerseLinker 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 5 too high 17 FixQuotes Quote of the Day 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 2 too high 18 I Inspiring Quotes — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 1 too high 19 Funbutler Booking System 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 10 too high 20 H Hola Emprendedor — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 1 too high 21 InspirePulse Quotes 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 1 too high 22 Quote Share Box — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 EdgeTariff – Duty and Tax for WooCommerce 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 9 too high 24 Necessary Blocks – Page Builder, Gutenberg Blocks & Patterns 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 8 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.