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← Rankings

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

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 navigation”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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

Navigation menu as Dropdown Widget shows at wp.org #8 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 10 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 4699 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.

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 3 Page scroll to id 100K+ · 4.9★ (225) wp.org #3 4 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #4 ↑2 5 WP Sitemap Page 200K+ · 4.8★ (205) wp.org #5 ↓1 6 Table of Contents Plus – Automatic Table of Contents for Posts & Pages 200K+ · 4.5★ (187) wp.org #6 ↑6 7 Menu Icons by Themeisle – Add Icons to Navigation Menus 100K+ · 4.9★ (851) wp.org #10 ↑1 3 too low 8 CMS Tree Page View – Reorder Pages with a Drag-and-Drop Tree 50K+ · 4.9★ (365) wp.org #9 ↓4 1 too low 9 Folders – Unlimited Folders to Organize Media Library Folder, Pages, Posts, File Manager 90K+ · 5.0★ (1525) wp.org #13 ↑5 4 too low 10 Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4699) wp.org #15 ↓1 5 too low 11 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #11 ↓3 12 Greenshift – animation and page builder blocks 70K+ · 4.8★ (107) wp.org #7 ↑2 5 too high 13 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #22 9 too low 14 Gutenberg Essential Blocks – Page Builder for Gutenberg Blocks & Patterns 100K+ · 4.9★ (216) wp.org #14 ↑3 15 CC Child Pages 9K+ · 4.9★ (49) wp.org #12 ↑1 3 too high 16 Flying Pages: Preload Pages for Faster Navigation & Improved User Experience 20K+ · 4.9★ (79) wp.org #18 ↓2 2 too low 17 WP-PageNavi 400K+ · 4.7★ (149) wp.org #19 ↓12 2 too low 18 Navigation menu as Dropdown Widget 2K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #8 ↑2 10 too high 19 Bold Page Builder 40K+ · 3.6★ (66) wp.org #16 ↓1 3 too high 20 OnSale Page for WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.5★ (26) wp.org #21 ↑1 1 too low 21 Endless Posts Navigation 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #20 1 too high 22 BlockStrap Page Builder – Bootstrap Blocks 2K+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #17 ↑2 5 too high 23 Admin Posts Navigation 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 Navigation JHAC 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 ↑1 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.