Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 viewed”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 3 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

Recently Viewed Products for WooCommerce – Carousel, Widget, Block & Email shows at wp.org #3 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.7★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Smash Balloon Social Post Feed – Simple Social Feeds for WordPress places #7 on merit, 4.7★ from 1511 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 Post Views Counter 100K+ · 4.9★ (1236) 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 AnWP Post Grid and Post Carousel Slider for Elementor 20K+ · 4.9★ (84) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 Table of Contents Plus – Automatic Table of Contents for Posts & Pages 200K+ · 4.5★ (187) wp.org #6 ↑1 2 too low 5 WebberZone Top 10 — Popular Posts 10K+ · 4.6★ (102) wp.org #7 ↓2 2 too low 6 Contextual Related Posts 50K+ · 4.8★ (201) wp.org #11 ↓2 5 too low 7 Smash Balloon Social Post Feed – Simple Social Feeds for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (1511) wp.org #19 ↓1 12 too low 8 Archive Content with Archived Post Status 5K+ · 4.9★ (36) wp.org #9 ↑4 1 too low 9 Advanced Post Block – Display Your Posts Exactly How You Want 10K+ · 4.2★ (17) wp.org #4 5 too high 10 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #15 ↓1 5 too low 11 Post View Count 4K+ · 4.6★ (18) wp.org #8 ↓2 3 too high 12 Element Pack Addons for Elementor – MCP & AI-Ready Elementor Widgets, Elementor Templates, Elementor Addons 100K+ · 4.7★ (284) wp.org #22 ↓1 10 too low 13 WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346) wp.org #21 8 too low 14 Wicked Folders – Folder Organizer for Pages, Posts, and Custom Post Types 20K+ · 4.9★ (56) wp.org #17 ↓1 3 too low 15 WP-PostViews 90K+ · 4.4★ (65) wp.org #16 ↓1 1 too low 16 Solid Post Likes 500+ · 4.8★ (9) wp.org #10 ↓2 6 too high 17 Recently Viewed Products for WooCommerce – Carousel, Widget, Block & Email 1K+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #3 14 too high 18 Ultimate Post List 2K+ · 4.6★ (13) wp.org #12 ↓2 6 too high 19 CCI Posts Carousel All In One 2K+ · 4.6★ (27) wp.org #23 ↓1 4 too low 20 View Post Counter – Website Analytics 100+ · 4.8★ (4) wp.org #18 ↓1 2 too high 21 Post Kinds 100+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #20 1 too high 22 Remoji – Post/Comment Reaction and Enhancement 300+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 Customer who viewed this item also viewed using Woocommerce 50+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #13 ↓1 10 too high 24 Post slider elementor addons 1K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↓3 10 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.