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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “interactive content”

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 “interactive content”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 of the top 20. 6 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

ImageLinks – Interactive Image Builder with Hotspots shows at wp.org #11 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.9★ average from 9 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More places #9 on merit, 4.8★ from 14387 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Interactive Content – H5P 40K+ · 4.8★ (61) wp.org #1 2 Brave – Create Popup, Optins, Lead Generation, Survey, Sticky Elements & Interactive Content 20K+ · 4.8★ (209) wp.org #3 ↑2 1 too low 3 MapGeo – Interactive Geo Maps 30K+ · 4.4★ (65) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 TablePress – Tables in WordPress made easy 600K+ · 5.0★ (4625) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too high 6 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too high 7 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #13 6 too low 8 Secure Copy Content Protection and Content Locking 20K+ · 4.3★ (62) wp.org #7 1 too high 9 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #17 8 too low 10 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #18 ↑4 8 too low 11 Interactive Image Map Plugin – Draw Attention 20K+ · 4.9★ (114) wp.org #9 ↓1 2 too high 12 Open User Map – Interactive Leaflet Maps 10K+ · 5.0★ (70) wp.org #12 ↑2 13 3D FlipBook – PDF Embedder, PDF Flipbook Viewer, Flipbook Image Gallery 70K+ · 4.8★ (182) wp.org #15 2 too low 14 Interactive Image Map Builder 1K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #8 ↑1 6 too high 15 Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) wp.org #14 ↓4 1 too high 16 Interactive World Map 900+ · 3.5★ (17) wp.org #10 ↑1 6 too high 17 Advanced Accordion Gutenberg Block – Create Beautiful FAQs, Content Accordions & Interactive Tabs 9K+ · 4.1★ (34) wp.org #24 7 too low 18 Vision – Interactive Image Map with Hotspots Builder 2K+ · 4.9★ (9) wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too low 19 ImageLinks – Interactive Image Builder with Hotspots 1K+ · 3.9★ (9) wp.org #11 ↑1 8 too high 20 Table Of Content Block – Auto-Generate Clickable Table of Contents 3K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #20 21 Interactive Globes – 3D World Maps 400+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #21 22 Interactive Image 200+ · 3.5★ (4) wp.org #16 6 too high 23 Interactive Australia Map 90+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 ↑1 1 too high 24 Interactive Promo 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 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.