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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “main menu”

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 “main menu”, 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

Bulk Menu Edit shows at wp.org #15 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 700+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.7★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 8708 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 Sticky Menu & Sticky Header 90K+ · 4.7★ (763) wp.org #1 2 Max Mega Menu 300K+ · 4.8★ (882) wp.org #2 3 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 Nav Menu Roles 70K+ · 4.9★ (219) wp.org #4 ↓1 5 Responsive Menu – Mobile Menu & Hamburger Menu Builder 70K+ · 4.5★ (574) wp.org #5 6 Float menu – awesome floating side menu 30K+ · 4.4★ (41) wp.org #6 7 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #19 ↑1 12 too low 8 Five Star Restaurant Menu and Food Ordering 5K+ · 4.6★ (107) wp.org #11 3 too low 9 WPB Accordion Menu – Collapsible Vertical Sidebar Responsive Mobile Menu – WooCommerce Category Accordion 10K+ · 4.4★ (54) wp.org #10 1 too low 10 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8708) wp.org #24 14 too low 11 Restaurant Menu and Food Ordering 2K+ · 4.5★ (15) wp.org #8 3 too high 12 Options for Twenty Seventeen 8K+ · 4.8★ (57) wp.org #16 4 too low 13 Ollie Menu Designer 6K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #7 6 too high 14 Fullscreen Menu 1K+ · 4.7★ (14) wp.org #9 5 too high 15 Adminify – White Label, Admin Menu Editor, Login Customizer 6K+ · 4.3★ (109) wp.org #22 7 too low 16 Groovy Menu Plugin (Free) 4K+ · 3.6★ (25) wp.org #12 4 too high 17 Advanced Menu Manager Pro – Built for Content-heavy WordPress Sites to Add, Filter, Lock, and Edit Menus Easily 400+ · 3.7★ (22) wp.org #18 1 too low 18 Bubble Menu – Floating Button Menu with Sticky Navigation 1K+ · 4.2★ (9) wp.org #13 5 too high 19 Responsive Vertical Icon Menu 700+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #20 ↓1 1 too low 20 Menu Caching 400+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #14 6 too high 21 Easy restaurant menu manager 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #17 4 too high 22 Restaurant Food Menu by WP Darko – Drag & Drop Restaurant Menu Builder for WordPress 400+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #23 1 too low 23 Bulk Menu Edit 700+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #15 8 too high 24 Menu Breadcrumb 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #21 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.