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← Rankings

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

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 “pub”, 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

Templementor – Persistent Elementor Templates shows at wp.org #18 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 5 places. Its 40+ 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Ad Invalid Click Protector (AICP) 10K+ · 4.7★ (62) wp.org #1 2 WPVR – 360 Panorama viewer and Virtual Tour Builder for WordPress 10K+ · 4.7★ (133) wp.org #2 3 WP Video Popup – WordPress Video Lightbox for YouTube, Rumble & Vimeo 9K+ · 4.1★ (43) wp.org #3 4 GN Publisher: Google News Compatible RSS Feeds 20K+ · 4.9★ (29) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 M MimeTypes Link Icons 8K+ · 5.0★ (26) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 WPMathPub 300+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #4 2 too high 7 Elegance Menu 60+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #12 5 too low 8 WP Restaurant Price List 400+ · 4.7★ (11) wp.org #19 11 too low 9 Yctvn Media Offload for Cloudflare R2 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #11 2 too low 10 WowRestro – Restaurant Ordering & Operations for WooCommerce 10+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #16 6 too low 11 Thumbnail Manager 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 4 too high 12 PV Sort Plus for Cocoon 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 4 too high 13 Ultima Ads for Publishers 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 4 too high 14 PUBVOICE – AI Audio Player Powered by Gemini — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 4 too high 15 ParsChat 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 2 too high 16 Zoofi Ads.txt Helper for AdSense 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 2 too high 17 AdPageX 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 2 too high 18 C Course Layouts – Elementor Addon for TutorLMS 70+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 2 too low 19 Adslastica — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 2 too low 20 W WP Nasa/ADS Query Importer 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 3 too high 21 G GastroReserve – Table Reservation — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 1 too low 22 Redefined Zero Video Gallery — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 1 too low 23 Templementor – Persistent Elementor Templates 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 5 too high 24 Tablekeep – Restaurant Booking Widget — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24

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.