Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “reading bar”

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 “reading bar”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

Reading Time shows at wp.org #7 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 200+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.7★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 612 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Reading progressbar 6K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #1 2 WP Reading Progress 3K+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #2 3 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 Reading Position Indicator 800+ · 5.0★ (66) wp.org #4 5 Read Meter – Reading Time & Progress Bar 10K+ · 4.5★ (19) wp.org #3 2 too high 6 The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461) wp.org #10 ↓1 4 too low 7 NotificationX – FOMO, Live Sales Notification, WooCommerce Sales Popup, GDPR, Social Proof, Announcement Banner & Floating Notification Bar 30K+ · 4.8★ (228) wp.org #11 4 too low 8 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #9 1 too low 9 Progress Bar 1K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #6 3 too high 10 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #16 ↓1 6 too low 11 Orbit Fox: Duplicate Page, Menu Icons, SVG Support, Cookie Notice, Custom Fonts & More 100K+ · 4.8★ (317) wp.org #14 ↓1 3 too low 12 Redis Object Cache 500K+ · 4.5★ (179) wp.org #13 ↓1 1 too low 13 Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) wp.org #12 ↓2 1 too high 14 Master Addons for Elementor – Elementor Addons, Widgets, Mega Menu Builder, Popup Builder, Widget Builder & Template Kits 30K+ · 4.5★ (212) wp.org #21 ↓1 7 too low 15 Sticky Header Effects for Elementor 300K+ · 4.5★ (69) wp.org #17 ↓1 2 too low 16 Read More Without Refresh 20K+ · 4.2★ (55) wp.org #22 ↓1 6 too low 17 Joli Table Of Contents – Table of Contents with Gutenberg Block & Shortcode 7K+ · 4.9★ (43) wp.org #23 ↓1 6 too low 18 Worth The Read 3K+ · 4.3★ (27) wp.org #18 ↓1 19 FluentAuth – Login Security, Two-Factor Authentication, Passkeys & Social Login 10K+ · 4.1★ (35) wp.org #19 ↑5 20 Sina Extension for Elementor 40K+ · 4.9★ (35) wp.org #24 ↓1 4 too low 21 Catch Scroll Progress Bar 1K+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #8 13 too high 22 Reading Time 200+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #7 15 too high 23 ConvertForce: Popup, Notification Bar & Slide-in Builder 100+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #20 ↓1 3 too high 24 Scroll to Top – Smooth Scroll Up, Back to Top & Reading Progress Bar 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 ↓1 9 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.