Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “paste as text”

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 “paste as text”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 of the top 20.

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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Text Case Converter shows at wp.org #9 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 300+ 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

Quiz Maker by AYS places #11 on merit, 4.9★ from 601 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 Paste As Plain Text By Default 2K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #1 2 The Paste 9K+ · 4.8★ (35) wp.org #2 3 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #7 4 too low 4 Meta Field Block – Display Custom Fields for ACF, Meta Box and More 10K+ · 5.0★ (57) wp.org #8 ↑3 4 too low 5 Auto Alt Text 4K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #3 ↑1 2 too high 6 Modula Image Gallery – Photo Grid & Video Gallery 100K+ · 4.7★ (616) wp.org #13 ↑3 7 too low 7 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #11 ↑2 4 too low 8 AI Alt Text Generator 2K+ · 4.9★ (7) wp.org #4 ↓1 4 too high 9 Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528) wp.org #19 ↑2 10 too low 10 File Manager 1M+ · 4.6★ (1492) wp.org #17 7 too low 11 Quiz Maker by AYS 20K+ · 4.9★ (601) wp.org #23 12 too low 12 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #24 ↓1 12 too low 13 Easy MCP AI – Connect Claude to WordPress: MCP Server for ChatGPT & AI Agents 30K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #14 ↑8 1 too low 14 Add to Cart Button Custom Text 9K+ · 4.6★ (12) wp.org #12 2 too high 15 Text Typing – grab attention with animated typing headlines 3K+ · 3.8★ (6) wp.org #5 10 too high 16 Copy Anything to Clipboard for WordPress – Copy Button, Copy Text & Copy Code 10K+ · 4.5★ (36) wp.org #22 ↓2 6 too low 17 Doubly – Cross Domain Copy Paste for WordPress 10K+ · 4.4★ (14) wp.org #15 ↓1 2 too high 18 Iconic Copy Text Blocks 400+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #6 12 too high 19 ImgSEO – AI Image Alt Text Generator & Image SEO Tools 400+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #16 ↓1 3 too high 20 Add as Preferred Source on Google 900+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #10 10 too high 21 Text to Speech – Reinvent WP 40+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #20 1 too high 22 Text Case Converter 300+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #9 13 too high 23 Dummy Text Generator 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #18 5 too high 24 RobArt Text Collector 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↓2 3 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.