wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “social comment”
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 “social comment”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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
Social comments by WpDevArt shows at wp.org #11 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 7K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 42 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Comments – wpDiscuz 60K+ · 4.7★ (581)
wp.org #1 2 
Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408)
wp.org #2 ↑3 3 
Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322)
wp.org #4 ↑2 1 too low 4 
Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – Easy Social Feeds Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4358)
wp.org #5 ↓3 1 too low 5 
Wp Social Login and Register Social Counter 70K+ · 4.6★ (67)
wp.org #3 2 too high 6 
Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221)
wp.org #8 ↑2 2 too low 7 
Disable Comments 1M+ · 4.7★ (281)
wp.org #7 ↑2 8 
Social Feed Gallery 80K+ · 4.5★ (303)
wp.org #10 ↑3 2 too low 9 
Widgets for Social Photo Feed 10K+ · 4.7★ (28)
wp.org #6 ↑2 3 too high 10 
WP Social Ninja – Embed Social Feeds, User Reviews & Chat Widgets 30K+ · 4.8★ (71)
wp.org #9 ↑6 1 too high 11 
Spotlight Social Photo Feed 50K+ · 4.7★ (171)
wp.org #12 ↓5 1 too low 12 
Easy Social Feed – All In One Social Feed Plugin for WordPress 30K+ · 4.6★ (502)
wp.org #15 ↑1 3 too low 13 
Feed Them Social – Social Media Feeds, Video, and Photo Galleries 20K+ · 4.7★ (639)
wp.org #17 ↑1 4 too low 14 
Smash Balloon Social Post Feed – Simple Social Feeds for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (1511)
wp.org #23 ↑1 9 too low 15 
Hubbub Lite – Fast, free social sharing and follow buttons 30K+ · 4.7★ (173)
wp.org #16 ↑1 1 too low 16 
Social Login, Social Sharing by miniOrange 10K+ · 4.6★ (356)
wp.org #20 4 too low 17 Social comments by WpDevArt 7K+ · 4.3★ (42)
wp.org #11 6 too high 18 
Social Preview and Open Graph Tags 50K+ · 4.6★ (122)
wp.org #21 ↑1 3 too low 19 
Bit Social – Social Media Auto Poster and Scheduler 6K+ · 4.5★ (36)
wp.org #13 ↓1 6 too high 20 
Inavii Social Feed – Live Social Proof Gallery 9K+ · 5.0★ (17) thin reviews
wp.org #14 6 too high 21 
Lazy Social Comments 900+ · 4.5★ (19) thin reviews
wp.org #18 ↑1 3 too high 22 
Disqus Comment System 30K+ · 2.7★ (219)
wp.org #19 ↑2 3 too high 23 
Flow-Flow Social Streams 7K+ · 3.3★ (100)
wp.org #24 ↓1 1 too low 24 
Social Post Flow – Social Media Automation, Scheduling, Scheduler, Posting & Auto Post 200+ · 4.2★ (10) thin reviews
wp.org #22 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.