Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “launch page”

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 “launch page”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

Simple Countdown Timer – Sales, Launch and Event Countdowns shows at wp.org #10 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Starter Templates: AI-Powered Website Templates for Elementor & Gutenberg places #12 on merit, 4.9★ from 4755 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #1 2 CMP – Coming Soon & Maintenance Plugin by NiteoThemes 200K+ · 4.7★ (326) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too low 3 Page scroll to id 100K+ · 4.9★ (225) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode Page & Under Construction 10K+ · 4.8★ (317) wp.org #4 ↓1 5 Floating Chat Widget: Contact Chat Icons, Telegram Chat, Line Messenger, WeChat, Email, SMS, Call Button – Chaty 300K+ · 5.0★ (1244) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 Minimal Coming Soon – Coming Soon Page 100K+ · 4.3★ (282) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too high 7 Otter Blocks – Gutenberg Blocks, Page Builder for Gutenberg Editor & FSE 300K+ · 4.7★ (251) wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too high 8 Gutenverse – WordPress Blocks, Page Builder & Site Editor 20K+ · 4.9★ (190) wp.org #8 9 WPVibe – MCP Server for WordPress, works with Claude, ChatGPT & other AI MCP agents 100K+ · 5.0★ (195) wp.org #14 ↑2 5 too low 10 Nexter Blocks – Gutenberg Blocks, Page Builder & AI Website Builder 9K+ · 4.8★ (90) wp.org #12 ↑9 2 too low 11 Show Pages IDs 10K+ · 5.0★ (103) wp.org #17 ↓3 6 too low 12 Starter Templates: AI-Powered Website Templates for Elementor & Gutenberg 1M+ · 4.9★ (4755) wp.org #24 ↓6 12 too low 13 Addon Elements for Elementor (formerly Elementor Addon Elements) 80K+ · 4.8★ (172) wp.org #18 5 too low 14 MultiVendorX – WooCommerce Multivendor Marketplace AI Powered Solutions 2K+ · 4.8★ (432) wp.org #20 6 too low 15 Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4940) wp.org #22 ↑1 7 too low 16 Admin Page Spider 1K+ · 4.8★ (22) wp.org #13 ↓2 3 too high 17 Page & Post Notes 1K+ · 4.4★ (14) wp.org #9 8 too high 18 If-So Dynamic Content – Elementor & All Page Builders Personalization 7K+ · 4.7★ (92) wp.org #23 ↓3 5 too low 19 Popup builder with Gamification, Multi-Step Popups, Page-Level Targeting, and WooCommerce Triggers 70K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #16 ↓3 3 too high 20 Landing Page Cat – Coming Soon & Maintenance Pages 600+ · 4.2★ (6) wp.org #11 ↓1 9 too high 21 Hostinger Reach – AI-Powered Email Marketing for WordPress 1M+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #19 ↓4 2 too high 22 Simple Countdown Timer – Sales, Launch and Event Countdowns 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #10 ↓2 12 too high 23 Unbounce Landing Pages 10K+ · 3.2★ (11) wp.org #15 ↓3 8 too high 24 Ultimate Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode & Under Construction – Gutenberg Block Builder & Landing Page 9K+ · 4.5★ (6) wp.org #21 ↓4 3 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.