Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “side tab”

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 “side tab”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 of the top 20. 5 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

Floating Side Tab shows at wp.org #2 but places #15 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 600+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 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 #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Simple Side Tab 10K+ · 4.8★ (22) wp.org #1 2 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #7 ↓1 5 too low 3 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #6 ↑3 3 too low 4 External Links in New Window / New Tab 30K+ · 4.5★ (77) wp.org #8 ↓1 4 too low 5 AI Engine – MCP Server & AI Chatbot for WordPress, with Claude, ChatGPT & Gemini 90K+ · 4.9★ (874) wp.org #16 11 too low 6 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #14 ↓1 8 too low 7 Side Menu Lite – Sticky Floating Side Menu 7K+ · 4.0★ (12) wp.org #3 4 too high 8 Modern Cart – WooCommerce Side Cart & Popup Cart 60K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #4 4 too high 9 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #21 12 too low 10 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #24 ↓2 14 too low 11 Product Tabs Manager for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.9★ (38) wp.org #11 ↓3 12 Stape Conversion Tracking 10K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #5 7 too high 13 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #22 ↓2 9 too low 14 Sticky Side Buttons 10K+ · 4.5★ (40) wp.org #12 ↓2 2 too high 15 Floating Side Tab 600+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #2 13 too high 16 Advanced Accordion Gutenberg Block – Create Beautiful FAQs, Content Accordions & Interactive Tabs 9K+ · 4.1★ (34) wp.org #17 ↑1 1 too low 17 Easy Tabs Block – Smart, Lightweight & Responsive Tabs for the Block Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #9 ↑2 8 too high 18 Caddy – WooCommerce Side Cart & Free Shipping Bar 3K+ · 3.9★ (20) wp.org #15 3 too high 19 StoreGrowth – Upsell, BOGO, Quick View, Direct Checkout & Side Cart for WooCommerce 2K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #19 20 Tabs Block – Responsive Gutenberg Tabs for Block Editor 700+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 ↑2 10 too high 21 Mini Cart for WooCommerce – Side Cart & Fast Checkout 600+ · 3.6★ (5) wp.org #20 ↑1 1 too high 22 Product Side Cart For WooCommerce 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 ↓2 4 too high 23 ThemeHunk – Side Cart, Ajax Cart & Menu Cart for WooCommerce 5K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 ↑1 10 too high 24 My Agile Pixel® – Self-Hosted Server-Side Tracking for WordPress 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 ↑1 1 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.