wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “post ideas”
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 ideas”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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
Post Carousel Divi shows at wp.org #13 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.9★ average from 12 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27820)
wp.org #1 ↑2 2 
Post Types Order 600K+ · 4.5★ (296)
wp.org #2 ↓1 3 
Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528)
wp.org #4 ↓2 1 too low 4 
Custom Post Type UI 1M+ · 4.6★ (276)
wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too high 5 
Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144)
wp.org #6 ↑1 1 too low 6 
Public Post Preview 100K+ · 4.6★ (79)
wp.org #5 1 too high 7 
Smart Post – Post Grid, Post Carousel, Post Slider Gutenberg Blocks for Blog & News 20K+ · 4.7★ (210)
wp.org #8 1 too low 8 
WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833)
wp.org #9 1 too low 9 
Ultimate Post Kit – Elementor Post Grid, Post Carousel, Post Slider & Blog Layout Widgets 30K+ · 4.8★ (58)
wp.org #7 ↓1 2 too high 10 
Post Grid 30K+ · 4.3★ (163)
wp.org #10 11 
WP Popular Posts 100K+ · 4.5★ (249)
wp.org #12 1 too low 12 
Post to Google My Business (Google Business Profile) 10K+ · 4.9★ (159)
wp.org #14 ↑2 2 too low 13 
MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation 500K+ · 4.4★ (1435)
wp.org #16 ↑4 3 too low 14 
User Submitted Posts – Enable Users to Submit Posts from the Front End 10K+ · 4.8★ (913)
wp.org #20 ↑1 6 too low 15 
Post Slider and Post Carousel with Post Vertical Scrolling Widget – A Responsive Post Slider 10K+ · 4.7★ (31)
wp.org #11 4 too high 16 
Delete Duplicate Posts 10K+ · 4.8★ (153)
wp.org #21 ↑1 5 too low 17 
Blog Designer Pack – Blog, Post Grid, Post Slider, Post Carousel, Category Post, News 30K+ · 4.7★ (79)
wp.org #19 2 too low 18 
Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333)
wp.org #23 5 too low 19 Post Carousel Divi 2K+ · 4.9★ (12) thin reviews
wp.org #13 ↑2 6 too high 20 
Ultimate Post List 2K+ · 4.6★ (13) thin reviews
wp.org #15 ↑2 5 too high 21 
Post Status Notifier Lite 700+ · 3.9★ (17) thin reviews
wp.org #24 3 too low 22 
Post Lockdown 1K+ · 4.6★ (9) thin reviews
wp.org #18 4 too high 23 
Easy Post Submission – Frontend Posting, Guest Publishing & Submit Content for WordPress 4K+ · 4.5★ (6) thin reviews
wp.org #17 ↓3 6 too high 24 
Fancy Post Grid – Ultimate Post Grid Builder 300+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews
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.