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

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

Interactions – Animations for Elementor & Gutenberg shows at wp.org #4 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 19 places. Its 500+ 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

AI Engine – MCP Server & AI Chatbot for WordPress, with Claude, ChatGPT & Gemini places #8 on merit, 4.9★ from 874 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 signals wp.org

Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) not PHP-currentheavy footprint wp.org #1 2

Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) not PHP-current wp.org #3 1 too low 3

Popup Maker – Boost Sales, Conversions, Optins, Subscribers with the Ultimate WP Popup Builder 600K+ · 4.9★ (4514) wp.org #9 ↑2 6 too low 4

ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #10 ↑2 6 too low 5

Depicter — Popup & Slider Builder 70K+ · 4.6★ (235) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #6 ↑2 1 too low 6

Poptin – Email Marketing Automation, Newsletter & Exit Pop Ups, Email Popups 20K+ · 4.9★ (701) wp.org #14 ↑4 8 too low 7

Kirki – Freeform Page Builder, Website Builder & Customizer 400K+ · 4.5★ (81) wp.org #8 ↓2 1 too low 8

AI Engine – MCP Server & AI Chatbot for WordPress, with Claude, ChatGPT & Gemini 90K+ · 4.9★ (874) wp.org #18 ↓1 10 too low 9

Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #17 ↑3 8 too low 10

UiCore Animate – Free Animations, Transitions, and Interactions Addon for Elementor & Gutenberg blocks 40K+ · 3.2★ (10) thin reviewslow rating, top placement wp.org #2 8 too high 11

Speculative Loading 70K+ · 5.0★ (18) thin reviews wp.org #7 4 too high 12

Comments – wpDiscuz 60K+ · 4.7★ (581) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #11 ↓1 1 too high 13

W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #19 6 too low 14

Robo Gallery – Photo & Image Slider 40K+ · 4.3★ (406) wp.org #20 6 too low 15

WPGraphQL 30K+ · 4.9★ (48) wp.org #16 ↓1 1 too low 16

Breeze Cache 300K+ · 3.6★ (133) wp.org #12 ↑4 4 too high 17

Click to Chat – HoliThemes 600K+ · 4.8★ (131) wp.org #23 6 too low 18

GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #21 ↓1 3 too low 19 D Debloat – Remove Unused CSS, Optimize JS 30K+ · 4.8★ (41) wp.org #22 3 too low 20

CM Pop-Up – Create engaging popups to capture attention and boost interaction 8K+ · 3.4★ (13) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviewslow rating, top placement wp.org #5 15 too high 21

Ele Conditions for Elementor 2K+ · 4.2★ (5) thin reviews wp.org #15 ↓2 6 too high 22

LLMs.txt and LLMs-Full.txt Generator 4K+ · 5.0★ (7) not PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #24 ↓5 2 too low 23

Interactions – Animations for Elementor & Gutenberg 500+ · 0.0★ (0) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviewslow rating, top placement wp.org #4 19 too high 24

FaeCursor – Interaction Effects Toolkit 300+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #13 ↓3 11 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.