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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “post collections”

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 “post collections”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

User Post Collections shows at wp.org #4 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 20+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

User Submitted Posts – Enable Users to Submit Posts from the Front End places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 913 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Ultimate Post Kit – Elementor Post Grid, Post Carousel, Post Slider & Blog Layout Widgets 30K+ · 4.8★ (58) wp.org #1 2 Smart Post – Post Grid, Post Carousel, Post Slider Gutenberg Blocks for Blog & News 20K+ · 4.7★ (210) wp.org #2 3 Post Grid 30K+ · 4.3★ (163) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 TablePress – Tables in WordPress made easy 600K+ · 5.0★ (4625) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #10 ↑5 3 too low 8 Content Views – Post Grid & Filter (Shortcode, Blocks, Elementor Widgets) 100K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #12 ↓1 4 too low 9 WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346) wp.org #11 ↓1 2 too low 10 WP Blog Post Layouts 9K+ · 4.7★ (83) wp.org #9 1 too high 11 User Submitted Posts – Enable Users to Submit Posts from the Front End 10K+ · 4.8★ (913) wp.org #18 7 too low 12 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #16 ↑1 4 too low 13 Smash Balloon Social Post Feed – Simple Social Feeds for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (1511) wp.org #22 ↑1 9 too low 14 WP RSS Aggregator – RSS Import, Feed to Post, Autoblogging, AI Content 40K+ · 4.5★ (565) wp.org #19 ↑1 5 too low 15 Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418) wp.org #24 9 too low 16 Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #15 ↓3 1 too high 17 Security Optimizer – The All-In-One Protection Plugin 1M+ · 4.5★ (157) wp.org #14 3 too high 18 Gravity Forms + Custom Post Types 10K+ · 4.4★ (46) wp.org #13 5 too high 19 Advanced Post Block – Display Your Posts Exactly How You Want 10K+ · 4.2★ (17) wp.org #8 11 too high 20 GenerateBlocks 200K+ · 4.9★ (122) wp.org #23 ↓4 3 too low 21 User Post Collections 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #4 ↓1 17 too high 22 Magazine Blocks – Blog Designer, Magazine & Newspaper Website Builder, Page Builder with Posts Blocks, Post Grid 6K+ · 4.9★ (11) wp.org #17 ↓1 5 too high 23 Frontend Post Submission Manager Lite – Guest Post and Frontend Submission Forms 1K+ · 4.5★ (22) wp.org #20 ↑1 3 too high 24 Fancy Post Grid – Ultimate Post Grid Builder 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #21 ↑1 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.