wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “new ui”
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 “new ui”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 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
News Kit Addons For Elementor shows at wp.org #10 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 3K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.6★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
Shortcodes Ultimate – Content Elements places #7 on merit, 4.9★ from 5925 reviews, but shows at wp.org #15. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
Custom Post Type UI 1M+ · 4.6★ (276)
wp.org #1 2 
New User Approve 20K+ · 4.3★ (131)
wp.org #2 3 
Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440)
wp.org #5 ↑4 2 too low 4 
RSS Aggregator by Feedzy – Feed to Post, Autoblogging, News & YouTube Video Feeds Aggregator 40K+ · 4.6★ (361)
wp.org #8 ↓1 4 too low 5 
Album Gallery for Photo & Video 4K+ · 4.8★ (26)
wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too high 6 
Rich Showcase for Google Reviews 100K+ · 4.9★ (1623)
wp.org #13 ↑1 7 too low 7 Shortcodes Ultimate – Content Elements 400K+ · 4.9★ (5925)
wp.org #15 8 too low 8 
Simple Custom Post Order 300K+ · 4.8★ (588)
wp.org #11 ↑4 3 too low 9 
Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281)
wp.org #16 ↓5 7 too low 10 
Smart Post – Post Grid, Post Carousel, Post Slider Gutenberg Blocks for Blog & News 20K+ · 4.7★ (210)
wp.org #14 4 too low 11 
Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144)
wp.org #19 ↑2 8 too low 12 
Image Gallery 3K+ · 4.4★ (32)
wp.org #7 ↓1 5 too high 13 
Responsive UI for Beaver Builder 300+ · 5.0★ (5) thin reviews
wp.org #3 10 too high 14 
Popups for Divi 100K+ · 4.8★ (442)
wp.org #18 4 too low 15 
EleSpare – Elementor News, Magazine & Blog Addons with Post Grid 10K+ · 4.9★ (44)
wp.org #12 ↓3 3 too high 16 
Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423)
wp.org #23 ↓5 7 too low 17 
Vertical News Scroller 5K+ · 4.3★ (17) thin reviews
wp.org #6 ↓2 11 too high 18 
File Manager Pro – Filester 100K+ · 4.9★ (155)
wp.org #20 2 too low 19 
Advanced Custom Fields: Extended 100K+ · 4.8★ (132)
wp.org #24 ↓2 5 too low 20 
Photo Gallery – Image, Video & Portfolio 1K+ · 4.8★ (13) thin reviews
wp.org #9 ↑1 11 too high 21 
CMB2 300K+ · 5.0★ (91)
wp.org #22 ↓1 1 too low 22 
BlockSpare – Gutenberg Blocks, AI Content Generator & Site Builder for news, magazine, blog and business sites 10K+ · 4.8★ (34)
wp.org #21 ↓3 1 too high 23 News Kit Addons For Elementor 3K+ · 3.6★ (5) thin reviews
wp.org #10 ↑2 13 too high 24 
Video Gallery – YouTube, Vimeo Gallery & YouTube API 1K+ · 4.0★ (7) thin reviews
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.