Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 nav”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 4 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

Post slider elementor addons shows at wp.org #8 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 1K+ 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

Menu Icons by Themeisle – Add Icons to Navigation Menus places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 851 reviews, but shows at wp.org #15. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Nav Menu Roles 70K+ · 4.9★ (219) wp.org #1 2 User Menus – Nav Menu Visibility 80K+ · 5.0★ (1281) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Smart Post – Post Grid, Post Carousel, Post Slider Gutenberg Blocks for Blog & News 20K+ · 4.7★ (210) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #4 5 Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #6 ↑2 1 too low 6 W4 Post List 3K+ · 4.7★ (94) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too high 7 Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails 100K+ · 4.8★ (215) wp.org #7 ↑2 8 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #12 4 too low 9 WP-PageNavi 400K+ · 4.7★ (149) wp.org #9 ↓4 10 Menu Icons by Themeisle – Add Icons to Navigation Menus 100K+ · 4.9★ (851) wp.org #15 5 too low 11 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #10 ↑1 1 too high 12 Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528) wp.org #16 ↑7 4 too low 13 The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461) wp.org #20 7 too low 14 ECS – Ele Custom Skin for Elementor 100K+ · 4.6★ (117) wp.org #18 ↑6 4 too low 15 Nested Pages 90K+ · 4.7★ (126) wp.org #22 7 too low 16 Ultimate Post List 2K+ · 4.6★ (13) wp.org #11 ↓1 5 too high 17 Sticky Header Effects for Elementor 300K+ · 4.5★ (69) wp.org #24 7 too low 18 WPML to Polylang 5K+ · 5.0★ (20) wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too low 19 Page and Post Restriction 1K+ · 4.3★ (16) wp.org #13 6 too high 20 CMB2 300K+ · 5.0★ (91) wp.org #21 1 too low 21 Fancy Post Grid – Ultimate Post Grid Builder 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #14 7 too high 22 Post slider elementor addons 1K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 ↓1 14 too high 23 BlockStrap Page Builder – Bootstrap Blocks 2K+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #23 24 ACF Nav Menu Field 3K+ · 2.6★ (5) wp.org #17 ↓1 7 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.