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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “share buttons”

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 “share buttons”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

Superb Social Media Share Buttons and Follow Buttons shows at wp.org #12 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 6K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.4★ average from 11 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

MaxButtons – Create buttons places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 1093 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 AddToAny Share Buttons 300K+ · 4.7★ (1114) wp.org #1 2 Simple Share Buttons Adder 40K+ · 4.3★ (627) wp.org #2 3 Social Share Icons & Social Share Buttons 10K+ · 4.9★ (1911) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too low 4 Social Media Share Buttons & Social Sharing Icons 100K+ · 4.8★ (5333) wp.org #5 ↓2 1 too low 5 Simple Social Media Share Buttons – Social Sharing for Everyone 20K+ · 4.8★ (194) wp.org #3 ↑1 2 too high 6 Buttonizer – Social Media Share Buttons, Social Icons, & Social Feeds 40K+ · 4.8★ (396) wp.org #7 ↑1 1 too low 7 WPZOOM Connect: Social Icons Widget & Block, Share Buttons & Click to Chat 90K+ · 4.9★ (144) wp.org #10 ↓3 3 too low 8 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #13 ↑1 5 too low 9 MaxButtons – Create buttons 70K+ · 4.9★ (1093) wp.org #17 8 too low 10 Social Share Buttons 1K+ · 4.8★ (28) wp.org #9 ↑1 1 too high 11 ShareThis Share Buttons 10K+ · 3.5★ (26) wp.org #6 5 too high 12 Share Buttons & AI-powered Summaries 1K+ · 5.0★ (16) wp.org #8 ↑1 4 too high 13 Genesis Simple Share 10K+ · 4.4★ (33) wp.org #11 ↑1 2 too high 14 Nobs • Share Buttons 3K+ · 4.7★ (93) wp.org #18 ↓3 4 too low 15 Super Web Share – Native Social Sharing Button 2K+ · 4.9★ (29) wp.org #15 ↑3 16 Social Snap — Social Share Buttons & Click to Tweet 10K+ · 4.2★ (58) wp.org #19 3 too low 17 Social Share for WooCommerce 3K+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #14 ↓1 3 too high 18 Superb Social Media Share Buttons and Follow Buttons 6K+ · 4.4★ (11) wp.org #12 ↓1 6 too high 19 Social Share Button 1K+ · 4.1★ (17) wp.org #16 3 too high 20 F Frizzly – Social Share Buttons 300+ · 4.2★ (20) wp.org #23 ↑1 3 too low 21 ShareToSocial – Social Media Share Buttons & Sharing Icons 100+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #21 22 ShareThis Reaction Buttons 600+ · 3.8★ (5) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 Social Share Block – Help Visitors Spread Your Content Everywhere 2K+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #20 3 too high 24 Easy Share Solution For WordPress 900+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 ↑1 2 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.