Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “page”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 3 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

Page Visits Counter – Lite shows at wp.org #7 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 5K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 7 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Folders – Unlimited Folders to Organize Media Library Folder, Pages, Posts, File Manager places #5 on merit, 5.0★ from 1525 reviews, but shows at wp.org #9. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #1 2 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 Duplicate Page 3M+ · 4.8★ (466) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #4 ↑3 5 Folders – Unlimited Folders to Organize Media Library Folder, Pages, Posts, File Manager 90K+ · 5.0★ (1525) wp.org #9 4 too low 6 P Page-list 30K+ · 4.7★ (89) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 WP Sitemap Page 200K+ · 4.8★ (205) wp.org #8 ↑4 1 too low 8 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #10 ↓4 2 too low 9 Page Builder by SiteOrigin 400K+ · 4.8★ (1005) wp.org #11 ↑2 2 too low 10 Page scroll to id 100K+ · 4.9★ (225) wp.org #6 ↑3 4 too high 11 Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4699) wp.org #14 ↑1 3 too low 12 Under Construction 600K+ · 4.8★ (1285) wp.org #13 ↓9 1 too low 13 Simple Page Ordering 100K+ · 4.7★ (131) wp.org #16 ↑1 3 too low 14 PPWP – Password Protect Pages 30K+ · 4.7★ (271) wp.org #20 ↑3 6 too low 15 Landing Page Builder – Coming Soon page, Maintenance Mode, Lead Page, WordPress Landing Pages 8K+ · 4.6★ (202) wp.org #17 ↑2 2 too low 16 P Page Links To 100K+ · 4.9★ (157) wp.org #23 ↓3 7 too low 17 Otter Blocks – Gutenberg Blocks, Page Builder for Gutenberg Editor & FSE 300K+ · 4.7★ (251) wp.org #21 ↓3 4 too low 18 Colibri Page Builder 80K+ · 4.4★ (80) wp.org #18 ↓8 19 WP Duplicate Page 60K+ · 4.2★ (16) wp.org #12 ↑2 7 too high 20 Page Visits Counter – Lite 5K+ · 4.0★ (7) wp.org #7 ↑4 13 too high 21 Greenshift – animation and page builder blocks 70K+ · 4.8★ (107) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 Duplicate Page and Post 70K+ · 4.6★ (29) wp.org #19 ↑3 3 too high 23 WP Post Page Clone 70K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #22 ↓1 1 too high 24 P Page Optimize 200K+ · 3.0★ (5) wp.org #15 ↑1 9 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.