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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “popup plugin”

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 “popup plugin”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

Popup builder with Gamification, Multi-Step Popups, Page-Level Targeting, and WooCommerce Triggers shows at wp.org #5 but places #14 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 70K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 7 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Poptin – Email Marketing Automation, Newsletter & Exit Pop Ups, Email Popups places #5 on merit, 4.9★ from 701 reviews, but shows at wp.org #13. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Popup Builder – Create highly converting, mobile friendly marketing popups. 200K+ · 4.7★ (2215) wp.org #1 ↑1 2 Popup Maker – Boost Sales, Conversions, Optins, Subscribers with the Ultimate WP Popup Builder 600K+ · 4.9★ (4514) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 Hustle – Email Marketing, Lead Generation, Optins, Popups 80K+ · 4.4★ (859) wp.org #3 4 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #4 5 Poptin – Email Marketing Automation, Newsletter & Exit Pop Ups, Email Popups 20K+ · 4.9★ (701) wp.org #13 ↓2 8 too low 6 Depicter — Popup & Slider Builder 70K+ · 4.6★ (235) wp.org #6 ↑2 7 Brave – Create Popup, Optins, Lead Generation, Survey, Sticky Elements & Interactive Content 20K+ · 4.8★ (209) wp.org #12 ↑5 5 too low 8 Popup Box – Create Countdown, Coupon, Video, Contact Form Popups 50K+ · 4.6★ (82) wp.org #9 1 too low 9 Popups for Divi 100K+ · 4.8★ (442) wp.org #14 ↑9 5 too low 10 Popup Builder & Popup Maker for WordPress – OptinMonster Email Marketing and Lead Generation 1M+ · 4.3★ (821) wp.org #7 ↓1 3 too high 11 Popup Maker – Responsive popup, Exit Intent Pop up, Email Optins, Autoresponder & More 7K+ · 4.5★ (144) wp.org #11 12 Payment Plugins for Stripe WooCommerce 100K+ · 4.8★ (303) wp.org #10 2 too high 13 Download Plugin 60K+ · 4.5★ (27) wp.org #8 ↓1 5 too high 14 Popup builder with Gamification, Multi-Step Popups, Page-Level Targeting, and WooCommerce Triggers 70K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #5 9 too high 15 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #19 ↓1 4 too low 16 Video Popup – Video Lightbox for YouTube, Vimeo & MP4 10K+ · 4.5★ (43) wp.org #18 ↓2 2 too low 17 Plugin Organizer 10K+ · 4.7★ (227) wp.org #21 ↓1 4 too low 18 Lightbox & Modal Popup WordPress Plugin – FooBox 100K+ · 3.9★ (95) wp.org #20 ↓1 2 too low 19 Popup Box – Easily Create WordPress Popups 6K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #15 ↓2 4 too high 20 T Themify Popup 8K+ · 4.9★ (11) wp.org #17 ↓2 3 too high 21 Cart Popup for WooCommerce 9K+ · 4.4★ (70) wp.org #24 ↓1 3 too low 22 Video Popup Block – YouTube, Vimeo, TikTok Lightbox by WPZOOM 10K+ · 4.7★ (6) wp.org #16 ↓2 6 too high 23 Advanced Popups 60K+ · 4.0★ (9) wp.org #23 ↑1 24 Promolayer – Popup Builder & Abandonment Preventer 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #22 ↓1 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.