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← Rankings

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

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

Gum Addon for Elementor shows at wp.org #12 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 50K+ 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

ProfileGrid – User Profiles, Groups and Communities places #11 on merit, 4.6★ from 236 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 MapSVG – Vector maps, Image maps, Google Maps 1K+ · 4.5★ (31) wp.org #1 2 iPanorama 360 – Advanced Virtual Tour Builder 4K+ · 4.5★ (31) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 WPZOOM Social Feed Widget & Block 50K+ · 4.3★ (51) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too low 4 Insert Special Characters 3K+ · 4.9★ (8) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too high 5 HT Mega Addons for Elementor – Elementor Widgets & Template Builder 60K+ · 4.1★ (66) wp.org #9 4 too low 6 Content Blocks Builder – Create blocks, repeater blocks with carousel, grid, popup layouts 1K+ · 5.0★ (13) wp.org #6 7 Image Hotspot – Map Image Annotation 3K+ · 4.9★ (22) wp.org #8 1 too low 8 AI 60K+ · 4.2★ (10) wp.org #5 ↓3 3 too high 9 Easy Bootstrap Shortcode 6K+ · 4.0★ (50) wp.org #10 1 too low 10 Vision – Interactive Image Map with Hotspots Builder 2K+ · 4.9★ (9) wp.org #7 3 too high 11 ProfileGrid – User Profiles, Groups and Communities 5K+ · 4.6★ (236) wp.org #19 ↑2 8 too low 12 MailMunch – Grow your Email List 5K+ · 4.7★ (241) wp.org #18 ↓1 6 too low 13 EU Withdrawal and Legal Guarantee Compliance 1K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #14 1 too low 14 EventPrime – Events Calendar, Bookings, Tickets & AI 7K+ · 4.4★ (85) wp.org #15 ↓4 1 too low 15 IZ Block Editor Tooltips 100+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #13 2 too high 16 B BuddyPress Extended Friendship Request 200+ · 4.8★ (10) wp.org #21 ↓2 5 too low 17 StaffList 100+ · 4.9★ (21) wp.org #24 ↓1 7 too low 18 News Kit Addons For Elementor 3K+ · 3.6★ (5) wp.org #11 7 too high 19 Masonry Gallery & Posts For Divi (WP Tools) 700+ · 2.8★ (5) wp.org #17 ↓1 2 too high 20 Gum Addon for Elementor 50K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 8 too high 21 Instant Back/Forward 10K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 ↓1 5 too high 22 WCSpots – image hotspots for WooCommerce 80+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 2 too high 23 Maestro: The Inline Admin Menu Editor 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 1 too high 24 PopCraft: Seamless Text Popovers in WordPress 80+ · 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.