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

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 this”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 2 plugins are 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

ShareThis Share Buttons shows at wp.org #11 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.5★ average from 26 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 2143 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #1 2 Simple Share Buttons Adder 40K+ · 4.3★ (627) wp.org #2 3 AddToAny Share Buttons 300K+ · 4.7★ (1114) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Social Media Share Buttons & Social Sharing Icons 100K+ · 4.8★ (5333) wp.org #9 ↓4 5 too low 5 Social Share Icons & Social Share Buttons 10K+ · 4.9★ (1911) wp.org #6 ↑1 1 too low 6 Share This Image 1K+ · 4.1★ (22) wp.org #3 3 too high 7 Genesis Simple Share 10K+ · 4.4★ (33) wp.org #5 ↑1 2 too high 8 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #10 2 too low 9 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #13 ↑1 4 too low 10 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #18 ↓2 8 too low 11 Super Web Share – Native Social Sharing Button 2K+ · 4.9★ (29) wp.org #8 ↑3 3 too high 12 Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) wp.org #12 13 Social Share for WooCommerce 3K+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #7 ↑1 6 too high 14 Polylang 900K+ · 4.7★ (3004) wp.org #23 ↑1 9 too low 15 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #19 ↑1 4 too low 16 Social Share Buttons 1K+ · 4.8★ (28) wp.org #15 ↓2 1 too high 17 Simple Social Media Share Buttons – Social Sharing for Everyone 20K+ · 4.8★ (194) wp.org #22 ↓3 5 too low 18 Share Buttons & AI-powered Summaries 1K+ · 5.0★ (16) wp.org #16 ↓4 2 too high 19 Highlight and Share – Unobtrusive and Lightweight Content Sharing 700+ · 4.9★ (29) wp.org #24 ↓3 5 too low 20 WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (583) wp.org #14 6 too high 21 ShareThis Share Buttons 10K+ · 3.5★ (26) wp.org #11 ↓2 10 too high 22 Social Share Button 1K+ · 4.1★ (17) wp.org #17 ↓2 5 too high 23 Social Share Block – Help Visitors Spread Your Content Everywhere 2K+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #20 ↓2 3 too high 24 Easy Share Solution For WordPress 900+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↓4 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.