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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “sidebars”

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 “sidebars”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

Custom Sidebars by ProteusThemes shows at wp.org #14 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads places #7 on merit, 4.9★ from 2433 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Custom Sidebars – Dynamic Sidebar Classic Widget Area Manager 100K+ · 4.7★ (1028) wp.org #1 2 Content Aware Sidebars – Fastest Widget Area Plugin 30K+ · 4.9★ (724) wp.org #2 ↑2 3 Genesis Simple Sidebars 10K+ · 4.4★ (27) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 Off-Canvas Sidebars & Menus (Slidebars) 1K+ · 4.8★ (38) wp.org #4 ↓1 5 WP Sticky Sidebar – Floating Sidebar On Scroll for Any Theme 10K+ · 4.9★ (153) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #12 6 too low 7 Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads 300K+ · 4.9★ (2433) wp.org #21 14 too low 8 Modula Image Gallery – Photo Grid & Video Gallery 100K+ · 4.7★ (616) wp.org #18 10 too low 9 Sidebar Login 9K+ · 4.5★ (78) wp.org #10 1 too low 10 Ocean Custom Sidebar 20K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #5 5 too high 11 Advanced Sidebar Menu 10K+ · 4.5★ (37) wp.org #9 2 too high 12 Lightweight Sidebar Manager 80K+ · 4.2★ (21) wp.org #6 6 too high 13 Simple Page Sidebars 20K+ · 4.9★ (54) wp.org #13 ↓2 14 Ultimate Floating Widgets – Make popup sidebars 3K+ · 4.9★ (14) wp.org #11 ↓1 3 too high 15 Simple Membership 40K+ · 4.6★ (475) wp.org #24 9 too low 16 Unlimited Page Sidebars 100+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #8 8 too high 17 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #23 ↓1 6 too low 18 All-in-One Sticky Anything – Click to Call, Fixed Widget, Sticky Header, Menu & Sidebar 1K+ · 4.9★ (15) wp.org #22 ↓3 4 too low 19 WPB Accordion Menu – Collapsible Vertical Sidebar Responsive Mobile Menu – WooCommerce Category Accordion 10K+ · 4.4★ (54) wp.org #20 ↓3 1 too low 20 Easy Social Like Box – Popup – Sidebar Widget 6K+ · 4.4★ (18) wp.org #19 ↓3 1 too high 21 Resizable Sidebar for the Gutenberg Block Editor 3K+ · 4.6★ (9) wp.org #16 ↓2 5 too high 22 SMK Sidebar Generator 10K+ · 4.4★ (5) wp.org #15 ↓2 7 too high 23 S Shortcodes in Sidebar 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #17 ↓2 6 too high 24 Custom Sidebars by ProteusThemes 1K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 10 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.