Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “pager”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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.

M

Ranked above its merit

Module Pager shows at wp.org #6 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 10+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Passster – Password Protect Pages and Content places #12 on merit, 4.2★ from 60 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Video Gallery – YouTube Playlist, Channel Gallery by YotuWP 10K+ · 4.7★ (322) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Automatic YouTube Gallery – Embed Auto-Updating YouTube Video Galleries, Feeds, Playlists & Channels 9K+ · 4.8★ (31) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 P Pager Widget 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 Responsive Thumbnail Slider 1K+ · 4.4★ (23) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too low 5 VigIA – AI Visibility, Analytics & Control 2K+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #10 5 too low 6 Weaver Show Sliders 900+ · 4.5★ (6) wp.org #4 2 too high 7 Cision Block 70+ · 5.0★ (15) wp.org #12 5 too low 8 Meow Mailer – Free SMTP, Everything Included 900+ · 5.0★ (25) wp.org #21 13 too low 9 Lana Downloads Manager 3K+ · 5.0★ (16) wp.org #20 11 too low 10 Post Grid & Post Slider – Carousel, Filter Tabs & Related Posts 1K+ · 4.3★ (8) wp.org #8 2 too high 11 Weaver Show Posts 5K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #17 6 too low 12 Passster – Password Protect Pages and Content 10K+ · 4.2★ (60) wp.org #23 ↓2 11 too low 13 HTML Page Publisher 500+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #7 6 too high 14 Video Gallery – YouTube, Vimeo & Video Slider with Lightbox 1K+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #19 5 too low 15 Thumbnail Slider With Lightbox 700+ · 3.8★ (11) wp.org #22 7 too low 16 M Module Pager 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #6 ↓1 10 too high 17 a3 Responsive Slider 200+ · 2.6★ (8) wp.org #11 6 too high 18 Magni Image Flip For WooCommerce 700+ · 3.4★ (5) wp.org #18 19 Simplistic page navi 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 10 too high 20 HXSE — Code-First Search — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 ↓1 5 too high 21 NMR jsGrid — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 5 too high 22 Apqrinu Job Board — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 9 too high 23 WT Catalog 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↑1 9 too high 24 Singlepage Website — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 ↓1

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.