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← Rankings

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

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 “latex”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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

TheLaTeXLab – Citations & Bibliography shows at wp.org #10 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 10+ 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.

Buried gem

Tutor LMS – eLearning and online course solution places #10 on merit, 4.4★ from 590 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 M MathJax-LaTeX 10K+ · 4.4★ (11) wp.org #1 2 Code Block Pro – Beautiful Syntax Highlighting 10K+ · 4.8★ (50) wp.org #6 ↑1 4 too low 3 KaTeX 2K+ · 5.0★ (16) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too low 4 LaTeX2HTML 200+ · 4.8★ (9) wp.org #2 2 too high 5 S Simple Mathjax 4K+ · 4.7★ (14) wp.org #5 ↑1 6 FluentCommunity – Ultra-Fast High-Performance Social Network, Community, LMS & Online Courses 8K+ · 4.8★ (96) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 Print My Blog – Print, PDF, & eBook Converter WordPress Plugin 8K+ · 4.8★ (115) wp.org #9 ↑1 2 too low 8 CodeColorer 1K+ · 4.9★ (11) wp.org #7 ↑2 1 too high 9 WPMathPub 300+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #3 6 too high 10 Tutor LMS – eLearning and online course solution 100K+ · 4.4★ (590) wp.org #20 ↓1 10 too low 11 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #21 ↑2 10 too low 12 W WP QuickLaTeX 4K+ · 4.6★ (31) wp.org #12 13 W WP LaTeX 700+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #17 ↑1 4 too low 14 PressPrimer Quiz – AI Quiz Maker, Exam Builder & LMS Assessment Plugin 200+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #13 ↑3 1 too high 15 Youngwhan's Simple Latex 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #11 ↑2 4 too high 16 BrainCert Virtual Classroom 10+ · 3.7★ (6) wp.org #14 2 too high 17 TheLaTeXLab – Citations & Bibliography 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 ↑1 7 too high 18 Glyphwell – Visual Equation Editor 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 3 too high 19 Markdown Renderer for GitHub 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↑1 3 too high 20 O Ozeki Markdown Documents — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 ↑2 2 too high 21 K KaTeX Math Rendering — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↑2 2 too high 22 WeBWorK Q&A — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 23 Plugixa Exam – Online Exams, Live Monitoring, Quizzes & Certificates — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 24 WPBetterCodeHighlighting — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24

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.