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

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 class”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 5 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

BlockStrap Page Builder – Bootstrap Blocks shows at wp.org #17 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.5★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Beaver Builder Page Builder – Drag and Drop Website Builder places #12 on merit, 4.7★ from 394 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. 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 P Page-list 30K+ · 4.7★ (89) wp.org #2 3 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #3 ↑2 4 WP Sitemap Page 200K+ · 4.8★ (205) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too low 5 Page Builder by SiteOrigin 400K+ · 4.8★ (1005) wp.org #7 ↑4 2 too low 6 Folders – Unlimited Folders to Organize Media Library Folder, Pages, Posts, File Manager 90K+ · 5.0★ (1525) wp.org #9 ↑1 3 too low 7 Page scroll to id 100K+ · 4.9★ (225) wp.org #4 ↓1 3 too high 8 Loading Page with Loading Screen 10K+ · 4.6★ (124) wp.org #8 ↓1 9 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #12 ↑2 3 too low 10 Greenshift – animation and page builder blocks 70K+ · 4.8★ (107) wp.org #6 4 too high 11 Post and Page Builder by BoldGrid – Visual Drag and Drop Editor 50K+ · 4.7★ (140) wp.org #13 ↓1 2 too low 12 Beaver Builder Page Builder – Drag and Drop Website Builder 100K+ · 4.7★ (394) wp.org #20 ↓2 8 too low 13 LightStart – Maintenance Mode, Coming Soon and Landing Page Builder 400K+ · 4.3★ (874) wp.org #19 6 too low 14 Otter Blocks – Gutenberg Blocks, Page Builder for Gutenberg Editor & FSE 300K+ · 4.7★ (251) wp.org #16 2 too low 15 Table of Contents Plus – Automatic Table of Contents for Posts & Pages 200K+ · 4.5★ (187) wp.org #18 ↑1 3 too low 16 Bold Page Builder 40K+ · 3.6★ (66) wp.org #10 ↓2 6 too high 17 CSS Class Manager – An advanced autocomplete additional css class control for your blocks 500+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #11 ↓2 6 too high 18 Bulk Page Generator and Mass Page Builder – Page Generator 3K+ · 4.6★ (70) wp.org #14 ↓1 4 too high 19 Page View Count 10K+ · 4.0★ (55) wp.org #15 4 too high 20 Thanko Thank You Page Customizer for WooCommerce 3K+ · 4.5★ (37) wp.org #23 ↓6 3 too low 21 Shop Page WP 2K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway 700K+ · 3.1★ (237) wp.org #22 ↓2 23 Simple Site Map Page 6K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #21 ↑1 2 too high 24 BlockStrap Page Builder – Bootstrap Blocks 2K+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #17 ↑4 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.