wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “rich editor”

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 “rich editor”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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

JVM Rich Text Icons shows at wp.org #5 but places #12 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 3K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 10 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings places #9 on merit, 4.8★ from 7520 reviews, but shows at wp.org #13. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #1 ↑1 2

Rich Showcase for Google Reviews 100K+ · 4.9★ (1623) wp.org #2 ↑5 3

BEAR – Bulk Editor for WooCommerce Professional. AI assistant on board (MCP Server) 30K+ · 4.7★ (228) wp.org #3 4

Advanced Editor Tools 1M+ · 4.5★ (354) wp.org #4 ↓3 5

Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27820) wp.org #8 ↑1 3 too low 6

All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #7 ↓3 1 too low 7

TablePress – Tables in WordPress made easy 600K+ · 5.0★ (4625) wp.org #9 ↑1 2 too low 8

Schema – All In One Schema Rich Snippets 30K+ · 4.0★ (162) wp.org #6 2 too high 9

Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7520) wp.org #13 ↑1 4 too low 10

The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461) wp.org #12 2 too low 11

WP Editor 20K+ · 4.5★ (95) wp.org #10 ↓2 1 too high 12

JVM Rich Text Icons 3K+ · 5.0★ (10) thin reviews wp.org #5 7 too high 13

BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #11 2 too high 14

Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #20 6 too low 15

Ultimate Blocks – 25+ Gutenberg Blocks for Block Editor 50K+ · 4.9★ (729) wp.org #24 9 too low 16

WOLF – WordPress Posts Bulk Editor and Manager Professional 4K+ · 4.7★ (27) wp.org #14 ↓1 2 too high 17

GutenKit – Page Builder Blocks, Patterns, and Templates for Gutenberg Block Editor 80K+ · 4.5★ (48) wp.org #22 ↓6 5 too low 18

Frontend Product Editor for WooCommerce 400+ · 5.0★ (12) thin reviews wp.org #19 ↑2 1 too low 19

Rich Table of Contents 20K+ · 4.1★ (17) thin reviews wp.org #23 4 too low 20

Protect schema.org markup in HTML editor 700+ · 5.0★ (5) thin reviews wp.org #16 ↑1 4 too high 21

Image Editor by Pixo 700+ · 3.5★ (10) thin reviews wp.org #17 ↑2 4 too high 22

FrontEdit – Live Frontend Block Editor 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #15 7 too high 23

Custom Permalink Editor 4K+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #18 5 too high 24

Term Description: Rich Text Editor (Powered by TinyMCE) for WooCommerce 700+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #21 ↑1 3 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.