wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “posts metabox”

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 “posts metabox”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 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

Ocean Posts Slider shows at wp.org #6 but places #14 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 6 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 517 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Categories Metabox Enhanced 1K+ · 4.9★ (16) thin reviews wp.org #1 1 too high 3 P Posts 2 Posts 9K+ · 4.8★ (101) wp.org #3 4

SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #9 5 too low 5

Hide Posts 20K+ · 4.7★ (22) thin reviews wp.org #4 1 too high 6

All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) not PHP-currentheavy footprint wp.org #11 ↓1 5 too low 7

Bulk Edit Posts and Products in Spreadsheet 7K+ · 4.8★ (217) wp.org #12 5 too low 8

Post Type Switcher 200K+ · 4.8★ (255) wp.org #13 ↑2 5 too low 9

Unlist Posts & Pages 10K+ · 4.7★ (15) thin reviews wp.org #5 4 too high 10 N NS Featured Posts 4K+ · 4.8★ (29) wp.org #7 ↑1 3 too high 11

Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #20 ↑1 9 too low 12

The Post Grid – Shortcode, Gutenberg Blocks and Elementor Addon for Post Grid 100K+ · 4.8★ (265) wp.org #17 5 too low 13

Posts Like Dislike 5K+ · 4.3★ (23) thin reviews wp.org #8 ↓1 5 too high 14

Ocean Posts Slider 10K+ · 5.0★ (6) thin reviews wp.org #6 8 too high 15

JSM Show Post Metadata 10K+ · 5.0★ (12) thin reviews wp.org #10 ↑1 5 too high 16

Meta Box – A Framework for Dynamic Websites 500K+ · 4.8★ (165) wp.org #24 8 too low 17

MB Custom Post Types & Custom Taxonomies 10K+ · 4.7★ (13) thin reviews wp.org #14 ↓1 3 too high 18

CMB2 300K+ · 5.0★ (91) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #19 1 too low 19

WP Post Redirect 3K+ · 4.6★ (5) thin reviews wp.org #16 4 too high 21

WP Discord Post Plus – Supports Unlimited Channels 600+ · 4.0★ (11) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #15 ↓1 6 too high 22

WP Hide Post — Hide Posts, Pages, Custom Post Types, and Control Products Visibility for WooCommerce 3K+ · 5.0★ (5) thin reviews wp.org #22 23

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.