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

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 “menus”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

Merge Menus shows at wp.org #9 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 4 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 #11 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 User Menus – Nav Menu Visibility 80K+ · 5.0★ (1281) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 C Conditional Menus 60K+ · 4.4★ (71) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Menu Icons by Themeisle – Add Icons to Navigation Menus 100K+ · 4.9★ (851) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Shortcode in Menus 50K+ · 4.7★ (82) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #6 ↑3 1 too low 6 Max Mega Menu 300K+ · 4.8★ (882) wp.org #10 ↓1 4 too low 7 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #12 ↓1 5 too low 8 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #15 ↓1 7 too low 9 Polylang 900K+ · 4.7★ (3003) wp.org #17 8 too low 10 Nav Menu Roles 70K+ · 4.9★ (219) wp.org #16 ↑8 6 too low 11 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #22 ↓2 11 too low 12 Remove admin menus by role 8K+ · 4.4★ (14) wp.org #5 ↓1 7 too high 13 Admin Menu Editor 300K+ · 4.6★ (312) wp.org #19 ↓3 6 too low 14 Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #24 ↓2 10 too low 15 Buttonizer – Floating Menus, Sticky Buttons, & Popup Builder 70K+ · 4.5★ (151) wp.org #11 ↓1 4 too high 16 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #23 ↓5 7 too low 17 Genesis Simple Menus 2K+ · 4.8★ (11) wp.org #7 ↓1 10 too high 18 Off-Canvas Sidebars & Menus (Slidebars) 1K+ · 4.8★ (38) wp.org #14 ↓2 4 too high 19 Hide Drafts in Menus 1K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #8 ↓1 11 too high 20 Admin Bar Editor – Toolbar Customization with User Role based access & Custom menus 3K+ · 4.4★ (24) wp.org #13 7 too high 21 Merge Menus 300+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #9 12 too high 22 Purify WP Menus 200+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #20 ↓5 2 too high 23 Simplify Admin Menus 80+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #18 ↑1 5 too high 24 Admin Menus Fixed 100+ · 4.3★ (3) 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.