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

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 progress”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 2 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

Catch Scroll Progress Bar shows at wp.org #10 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode Page & Under Construction places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 317 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. 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 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #2 3 Folders – Unlimited Folders to Organize Media Library Folder, Pages, Posts, File Manager 90K+ · 5.0★ (1525) wp.org #6 ↑2 3 too low 4 Progress Bar 1K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too high 5 Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4699) wp.org #9 ↑7 4 too low 6 Colibri Page Builder 80K+ · 4.4★ (80) wp.org #5 ↓2 1 too high 7 Loading Page with Loading Screen 10K+ · 4.6★ (124) wp.org #7 ↓1 8 WP Reading Progress 3K+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #4 ↑1 4 too high 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 Otter Blocks – Gutenberg Blocks, Page Builder for Gutenberg Editor & FSE 300K+ · 4.7★ (251) wp.org #11 1 too low 11 Greenshift – animation and page builder blocks 70K+ · 4.8★ (107) wp.org #8 ↓1 3 too high 12 Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode Page & Under Construction 10K+ · 4.8★ (317) wp.org #21 9 too low 13 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #18 5 too low 14 Stackable – Page Builder Gutenberg Blocks 100K+ · 4.9★ (522) wp.org #24 10 too low 15 Gutenberg Essential Blocks – Page Builder for Gutenberg Blocks & Patterns 100K+ · 4.9★ (216) wp.org #23 8 too low 16 Bulk Page Generator and Mass Page Builder – Page Generator 3K+ · 4.6★ (70) wp.org #13 3 too high 17 Reading progressbar 6K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #14 ↓2 3 too high 18 Read Meter – Reading Time & Progress Bar 10K+ · 4.5★ (19) wp.org #16 ↓1 2 too high 19 Free Shipping Label and Progress Bar for WooCommerce 5K+ · 5.0★ (43) wp.org #19 20 Catch Scroll Progress Bar 1K+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #10 10 too high 21 Lite LMS Progress Tracker by LifterLMS – Simple Course, Membership Site and Content Progress Tracking for WordPress 300+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #20 1 too high 22 Progress Bars 500+ · 3.3★ (3) wp.org #17 5 too high 23 WBD Progress Bar For Gutenberg 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 ↑2 8 too high 24 Classic Addons – WPBakery Page Builder 3K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 2 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.