wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “preview post”
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 “preview post”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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
Duplicate Post – duplicate pages, copy content, clone posts shows at wp.org #10 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 5K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.7★ average from 7 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
AnWP Post Grid and Post Carousel Slider for Elementor places #12 on merit, 4.9★ from 84 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.
Public Post Preview 100K+ · 4.6★ (79)
wp.org #1 2 
Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528)
wp.org #2 3 
Simple Custom Post Order 300K+ · 4.8★ (587)
wp.org #3 ↑1 4 
Post Views Counter 100K+ · 4.9★ (1236)
wp.org #5 ↑4 1 too low 5 
Visual Link Preview 10K+ · 4.5★ (36)
wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too high 6 
The Post Grid – Shortcode, Gutenberg Blocks and Elementor Addon for Post Grid 100K+ · 4.8★ (265)
wp.org #8 ↓1 2 too low 7 
Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821)
wp.org #12 ↓1 5 too low 8 
Ultimate Post Kit – Elementor Post Grid, Post Carousel, Post Slider & Blog Layout Widgets 30K+ · 4.8★ (58)
wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too high 9 
Wikipedia Preview 1K+ · 4.8★ (37)
wp.org #6 ↓1 3 too high 10 
Social Preview and Open Graph Tags 50K+ · 4.6★ (122)
wp.org #9 ↓1 1 too high 11 
Smart Post – Post Grid, Post Carousel, Post Slider Gutenberg Blocks for Blog & News 20K+ · 4.7★ (210) heavy footprint
wp.org #11 ↓1 12 AnWP Post Grid and Post Carousel Slider for Elementor 20K+ · 4.9★ (84)
wp.org #19 7 too low 13 
Post Slider and Post Carousel with Post Vertical Scrolling Widget – A Responsive Post Slider 10K+ · 4.7★ (31)
wp.org #14 1 too low 14 
Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) not PHP-current
wp.org #17 ↓4 3 too low 15 
Auto Featured Image (Auto Post Thumbnail) 40K+ · 3.8★ (119) not PHP-current
wp.org #13 ↓1 2 too high 16 
W4 Post List 3K+ · 4.7★ (94)
wp.org #21 ↓3 5 too low 17 
Table of Contents Plus – Automatic Table of Contents for Posts & Pages 200K+ · 4.5★ (187)
wp.org #24 7 too low 18 
Archive Content with Archived Post Status 5K+ · 4.9★ (36)
wp.org #22 ↓3 4 too low 19 
Display Post Types – Post Grid, post list and post sliders 8K+ · 5.0★ (26) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #15 4 too high 20 Duplicate Post – duplicate pages, copy content, clone posts 5K+ · 4.7★ (7) thin reviews
wp.org #10 10 too high 21 
Advanced Post Block – Display Your Posts Exactly How You Want 10K+ · 4.2★ (17) not PHP-current thin reviews
wp.org #16 5 too high 22 
Flexible Layout Preview Image for ACF 800+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews
wp.org #23 ↓3 1 too low 23 
WP Social Preview 800+ · 3.5★ (2) thin reviews
wp.org #20 ↓3 3 too high 24 
Shortcode Preview Block 900+ · 3.7★ (3) thin reviews
wp.org #18 6 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.