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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “press kit”

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 “press kit”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

Blockenberg — 645 Advanced Gutenberg Blocks, 683 Templates and AI Agent for WordPress Block Editor shows at wp.org #8 but places #14 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.6★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP EasyCart: Shopping Cart and eCommerce Store places #11 on merit, 4.5★ from 206 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 GTM Kit – Google Tag Manager & GA4 integration 30K+ · 4.8★ (20) wp.org #1 2 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Block Animations, Motion & Scroll Effects – Ghost Kit 6K+ · 4.6★ (46) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Brizy – Page Builder 60K+ · 4.7★ (972) wp.org #9 4 too low 6 Advanced Custom Fields: Font Awesome Field 90K+ · 4.9★ (36) wp.org #6 7 Share on Mastodon 1K+ · 4.8★ (10) wp.org #4 3 too high 8 GamiPress – Gamification plugin to reward points, badges & ranks in WordPress, now with AI 10K+ · 4.9★ (493) wp.org #12 4 too low 9 LearnPress – WordPress LMS Plugin for Create and Sell Online Courses 70K+ · 4.3★ (597) wp.org #11 ↓1 2 too low 10 WDesignKit – AI Templates, Widget Builder & MCP Workflow 30K+ · 4.8★ (12) wp.org #7 3 too high 11 WP EasyCart: Shopping Cart and eCommerce Store 3K+ · 4.5★ (206) wp.org #19 8 too low 12 Invisible Anti-Spam & CAPTCHA — reCAPTCHA Alternative for All Forms 5K+ · 4.8★ (50) wp.org #15 ↑1 3 too low 13 Gutenify – Visual Site Builder Blocks & Starter Templates 5K+ · 4.5★ (11) wp.org #23 10 too low 14 Blockenberg — 645 Advanced Gutenberg Blocks, 683 Templates and AI Agent for WordPress Block Editor 1K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #8 6 too high 15 PixelVault – Media Library Folders, Document Library & File Manager 200+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #10 ↑1 5 too high 16 Z-Downloads 70+ · 4.6★ (7) wp.org #18 ↓3 2 too low 17 BBH Custom Schema – Add Custom JSON-LD to Your Website 900+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #17 18 Physical Media Folders 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 5 too high 19 ArtistKit 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↑2 3 too high 20 MusicNetics Artist Toolkit 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 6 too high 21 Gremio Kit — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 ↓1 1 too low 22 Andamio Kit — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 One Accessibility – WordPress Accessibility Plugin & ADA Compliance Widget 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↑1 2 too high 24 Instant AI Image Generator – Create & Import Images 800+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #20 4 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.