Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “navigate”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 2 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

Shiptastic for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #13 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 10K+ 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

WP Sticky Sidebar – Floating Sidebar On Scroll for Any Theme places #12 on merit, 4.9★ from 153 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Site Kit by Google – Analytics, Search Console, AdSense, Speed 5M+ · 4.2★ (1012) wp.org #1 2 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #2 3 Modula Image Gallery – Photo Grid & Video Gallery 100K+ · 4.7★ (616) wp.org #3 4 Max Mega Menu 300K+ · 4.8★ (882) wp.org #4 5 WP 2FA – Two-factor authentication for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (184) wp.org #5 6 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #6 ↑4 7 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #7 ↓1 8 Complianz – Terms and Conditions 300K+ · 4.9★ (187) wp.org #9 1 too low 9 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #12 3 too low 10 Click to Chat – HoliThemes 600K+ · 4.8★ (131) wp.org #10 ↑1 11 File Manager Pro – Filester 100K+ · 4.9★ (155) wp.org #15 4 too low 12 WP Sticky Sidebar – Floating Sidebar On Scroll for Any Theme 10K+ · 4.9★ (153) wp.org #17 ↑1 5 too low 13 Booking for Appointments and Events Calendar – Amelia 90K+ · 4.6★ (793) wp.org #21 8 too low 14 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #20 ↑2 6 too low 15 Custom Order Status Manager for WooCommerce 30K+ · 4.7★ (117) wp.org #11 ↓4 4 too high 16 Export All URLs 50K+ · 4.6★ (94) wp.org #16 ↑1 17 Simple Chat Button 40K+ · 4.8★ (14) wp.org #8 9 too high 18 Smooth Back To Top Button 40K+ · 4.9★ (31) wp.org #14 4 too high 19 Cloudflare 200K+ · 3.5★ (181) wp.org #23 4 too low 20 Kubio AI Page Builder 80K+ · 4.4★ (79) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 Navigation menu as Dropdown Widget 2K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #18 ↑1 3 too high 22 Gravity Forms Email Blacklist 10K+ · 4.3★ (15) wp.org #19 ↑2 3 too high 23 Shiptastic for WooCommerce 10K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #13 10 too high 24 DJ-Accessibility – Accessibility Plugin 3K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #22 ↓2 2 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.