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

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

B

Ranked above its merit

Barlapse – Fix Admin Bar Menu Overflow shows at wp.org #9 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its — installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Team Members – A WordPress Team Plugin with Gallery, Grid, Carousel, Slider, Table, List, and More places #5 on merit, 4.7★ from 91 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 Fuse Social Icons 10K+ · 4.6★ (58) wp.org #1 2 Visual CSS Style Editor 30K+ · 4.1★ (90) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Login Widget With Shortcode 5K+ · 3.8★ (29) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 bbPress Voting 400+ · 4.7★ (10) wp.org #4 5 Team Members – A WordPress Team Plugin with Gallery, Grid, Carousel, Slider, Table, List, and More 2K+ · 4.7★ (91) wp.org #17 ↑1 12 too low 6 BerqWP – All-In-One Optimization for Core Web Vitals, Cache, CDN, Images, CSS & JavaScript 4K+ · 4.3★ (54) wp.org #15 ↑2 9 too low 7 M Make Filename Lowercase 1K+ · 4.8★ (4) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 F Featured Image Thumbnail Grid 300+ · 4.7★ (10) wp.org #10 ↓1 2 too low 9 GS Books Showcase – Display Books in Grid, Slider & More | Library for WordPress 500+ · 4.8★ (42) wp.org #21 ↑3 12 too low 10 Socicon 200+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #5 5 too high 11 Resolai – AI Chatbot for Customer Support 300+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #8 ↑4 3 too high 12 BuddyPress Registration Groups 100+ · 4.9★ (7) wp.org #13 ↑2 1 too low 13 Solid Testimonials – Testimonial Slider, Video Testimonials & Customer Reviews 1K+ · 4.3★ (35) wp.org #16 ↓2 3 too low 14 Block Designer – Create Custom Blocks for Gutenberg Editor 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #12 ↓1 2 too high 15 Berq Used CSS – Remove Unused CSS Automatically 70+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #7 ↑9 8 too high 16 Accessible Carousel & Slider – WCAG AA Compliant Slideshow 500+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #11 ↓1 5 too high 17 Watermark RELOADED 700+ · 2.8★ (11) wp.org #14 ↓1 3 too high 18 Any Block Carousel Slider 200+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #18 ↑2 19 B Barlapse – Fix Admin Bar Menu Overflow — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 ↓1 10 too high 20 CocoPopup – Gutenberg Popup Builder for WordPress 50+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #20 ↑1 21 Custom Skin Loop Build Using Elementor (HTML) 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #22 ↑1 1 too low 22 SheetMirror for Google Sheets 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 WPGraphQL IDE 1K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 4 too high 24 Responsive Picture Block 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 1 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.