Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “magazines”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20.

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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

ThemeZee Magazine Blocks shows at wp.org #4 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 3K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 1680 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #1 ↑1 2 Issues and Series for Newspapers, Magazines, Publishers, Writers 2K+ · 4.5★ (73) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 EleSpare – Elementor News, Magazine & Blog Addons with Post Grid 10K+ · 4.9★ (44) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 Magazine Blocks – Blog Designer, Magazine & Newspaper Website Builder, Page Builder with Posts Blocks, Post Grid 6K+ · 4.9★ (11) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Comments – wpDiscuz 60K+ · 4.7★ (581) wp.org #11 6 too low 6 Ultimate Post Kit – Elementor Post Grid, Post Carousel, Post Slider & Blog Layout Widgets 30K+ · 4.8★ (58) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 ECS – Ele Custom Skin for Elementor 100K+ · 4.6★ (117) wp.org #8 1 too low 8 BlockSpare – Gutenberg Blocks, AI Content Generator & Site Builder for news, magazine, blog and business sites 10K+ · 4.8★ (34) wp.org #6 2 too high 9 Blog Designer Pack – Blog, Post Grid, Post Slider, Post Carousel, Category Post, News 30K+ · 4.7★ (79) wp.org #13 4 too low 10 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #22 12 too low 11 The Post Grid – Shortcode, Gutenberg Blocks and Elementor Addon for Post Grid 100K+ · 4.8★ (265) wp.org #18 7 too low 12 Starter Templates: AI-Powered Website Templates for Elementor & Gutenberg 1M+ · 4.9★ (4755) wp.org #24 12 too low 13 Shariff Wrapper 30K+ · 4.9★ (101) wp.org #21 ↑2 8 too low 14 WP Post Author – Author Box, Multiple Authors, Guest Authors & Custom Avatars 10K+ · 4.2★ (22) wp.org #16 ↑1 2 too low 15 Magical Posts Display – Elementor Advanced Posts widgets 3K+ · 4.4★ (10) wp.org #10 5 too high 16 News Element Elementor Blog Magazine 400+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #9 7 too high 17 Cozy Blocks – Website Builder & Business Growth Toolkit | Popups, Lead Forms & Inbox 6K+ · 4.6★ (21) wp.org #20 ↓1 3 too low 18 ThemeZee Magazine Blocks 3K+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #4 14 too high 19 Powerkit – Supercharge your WordPress Site 10K+ · 4.5★ (14) wp.org #23 ↑1 4 too low 20 TemplateSpare – 1000+ WordPress Starter Templates & Full Site Migration Tool | 1-Click Import/Export & No-Code Builder 10K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #19 ↑2 1 too high 21 SmartSMTP 2K+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #14 ↑6 7 too high 22 Elementor Post Grid – News, Magazine & Blog Builder – Ansar Elements 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #12 10 too high 23 Eleblog – Elementor Blog And Magazine Addons 1K+ · 3.0★ (6) wp.org #15 8 too high 24 Themebeez Toolkit 8K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 ↓1 7 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.