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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “scroll progress”

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 “scroll progress”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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 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

WBD Progress Bar For Gutenberg shows at wp.org #12 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 200+ 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

Unlimited Elements for Elementor places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 525 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #4 3 too low 2 Smooth Back To Top Button 40K+ · 4.9★ (31) wp.org #2 3 WP Reading Progress 3K+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #3 4 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #8 ↑2 4 too low 5 Catch Scroll Progress Bar 1K+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #1 4 too high 6 Sticky Header Effects for Elementor 300K+ · 4.5★ (69) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #11 4 too low 8 Reading progressbar 6K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #5 3 too high 9 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #10 ↓2 1 too low 10 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #13 ↓1 3 too low 11 Ajax Load More – Infinite Scroll, Load More, & Lazy Load 30K+ · 4.8★ (287) wp.org #16 ↓1 5 too low 12 Unlimited Elements for Elementor 300K+ · 4.8★ (525) wp.org #19 ↓1 7 too low 13 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #15 ↑1 2 too low 14 Simple Scroll To Top WP 1K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #6 8 too high 15 Read Meter – Reading Time & Progress Bar 10K+ · 4.5★ (19) wp.org #9 6 too high 16 Nexter Blocks – Gutenberg Blocks, Page Builder & AI Website Builder 9K+ · 4.8★ (90) wp.org #22 6 too low 17 Block Animations, Motion & Scroll Effects – Ghost Kit 6K+ · 4.6★ (46) wp.org #17 ↑2 18 HappyAddons for Elementor – 160 Elementor Widgets, GSAP Animations & Templates 400K+ · 4.8★ (489) wp.org #23 5 too low 19 AnimateGL – WebGL & CSS Scroll Animations and Hover Effects for Gutenberg and Elementor 2K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #20 1 too low 20 Progress Bars 500+ · 3.3★ (3) wp.org #14 6 too high 21 WBD Progress Bar For Gutenberg 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 ↑1 9 too high 22 Scroll to Top – Smooth Scroll Up, Back to Top & Reading Progress Bar 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 ↓1 4 too high 23 Arts Horizontal Scroll for Elementor 70+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↓1 2 too high 24 Etchenet Scroll Video Background Builder 30+ · 5.0★ (1) 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.