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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “prev”

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 “prev”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

Pagebreak Description shows at wp.org #14 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Document Gallery places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 112 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Video Gallery – YouTube Playlist, Channel Gallery by YotuWP 10K+ · 4.7★ (322) wp.org #1 2 FooGallery Photo Gallery : Image, Video & Masonry Galleries 100K+ · 4.8★ (995) wp.org #2 3 Blog Designer Pack – Blog, Post Grid, Post Slider, Post Carousel, Category Post, News 30K+ · 4.7★ (79) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Carousel Slider Block for Gutenberg 50K+ · 4.8★ (59) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Video Gallery – YouTube Gallery, Vimeo, Video Portfolio, Image Portfolio and Image Gallery 10K+ · 4.8★ (182) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 FV Simpler SEO 2K+ · 4.6★ (12) wp.org #3 3 too high 7 Latest Post Shortcode 4K+ · 4.8★ (46) wp.org #9 2 too low 8 Team Members – A WordPress Team Plugin with Gallery, Grid, Carousel, Slider, Table, List, and More 2K+ · 4.7★ (91) wp.org #12 4 too low 9 Announcer – Sticky Message Banner & Notification Bar 10K+ · 4.8★ (40) wp.org #10 1 too low 10 HTML5 Video Player – embed fast, responsive videos with ease 20K+ · 4.6★ (195) wp.org #17 7 too low 11 Post List Designer – Category Post, Recent Post, Post List 1K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #6 5 too high 12 Document Gallery 8K+ · 4.8★ (112) wp.org #22 10 too low 13 Post Category Prev-Next Link Fix 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #7 6 too high 14 Advanced Post Block – Display Your Posts Exactly How You Want 10K+ · 4.2★ (17) wp.org #15 ↓1 1 too low 15 Random Post Plugin – Redirect URL to Post 3K+ · 5.0★ (20) wp.org #23 ↓2 8 too low 16 Audio Player Block – Advanced Block for Embedding Audio Files 2K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #16 17 Logo Showcase – Responsive Logo Carousel, Logo Slider & Logo Grid 5K+ · 4.6★ (10) wp.org #18 1 too low 18 Magical Posts Display – Elementor Advanced Posts widgets 3K+ · 4.4★ (10) wp.org #19 1 too low 19 Easy Slider 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #13 6 too high 20 WP-CommentNavi 700+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #11 9 too high 21 Activity Link Preview For BuddyPress 100+ · 4.0★ (5) wp.org #24 ↓2 3 too low 22 Team Builder Member Showcase 1K+ · 3.8★ (4) wp.org #20 2 too high 23 Infinite Scroll Product For WooCommerce 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #21 2 too high 24 Pagebreak Description 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 ↑1 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.