wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “social news”
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 news”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 6 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
Ocean Social Sharing shows at wp.org #15 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 60K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.5★ average from 11 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
Social Media Share Buttons & Social Sharing Icons places #5 on merit, 4.8★ from 5,333 reviews, but shows at wp.org #10. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
How this rank is calculated
Each plugin's merit score multiplies these inputs together: how recently it was updated, how current its "tested up to" WordPress version is, its install base (log scale, capped at 10 million), its support thread resolution rate, and a rating score. The rating score weights the star average by review volume against a sitewide prior, then scales it by the lower bound of the share of 4 and 5 star reviews. A plugin with 3.7 stars from tens of thousands of reviews can still outscore a 4.9 with a few dozen, because the small sample carries less certainty.
A health factor between 0.4 and 1.15 then adjusts that score for what wp.org's search can't see: PHP fatals or failed activations on a test install, PHP and WordPress compatibility, memory and page-speed footprint, suspicious review patterns, closure risk, and a large install base with very few reviews. Clean, adopted plugins earn a small lift.
A keyword ranking starts from wp.org's search order for the term, weighting each position by 1 divided by its place, then applies the merit correction and health factor above. Relevance to the keyword stays in the result, so the order can differ from the all-categories list on /best, which scores plugins with no search term.
Hover a row to see the main reason for its position.
Wp Social Login and Register Social Counter 70K+ · 4.6★ (67)
wp.org #1 ↑2 2 
Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – Easy Social Feeds Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4,359)
wp.org #2 ↓1 3 
Social Share Icons & Social Share Buttons 10K+ · 4.9★ (1,911)
wp.org #4 ↑4 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 4 
Widgets for Social Photo Feed 10K+ · 4.7★ (28)
wp.org #3 ↑4 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 5 Social Media Share Buttons & Social Sharing Icons 100K+ · 4.8★ (5,333)
wp.org #10 ↓8 wp.org ranks it 5 places below merit 6 
Scriptless Social Sharing 10K+ · 5.0★ (70)
wp.org #5 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 7 
WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4,835)
wp.org #7 ↓1 8 
Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2,409)
wp.org #6 ↑7 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 9 
Simple Social Media Share Buttons – Social Sharing for Everyone 20K+ · 4.8★ (194)
wp.org #8 ↑1 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 10 
Spotlight Social Photo Feed 50K+ · 4.7★ (171)
wp.org #9 ↓4 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 11 
Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27,820)
wp.org #16 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 5 places below merit 12 
Hubbub Lite – Fast, free social sharing and follow buttons 30K+ · 4.7★ (173)
wp.org #14 ↑6 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 13 
Simple Social Icons 100K+ · 4.3★ (92)
wp.org #11 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 14 
WP Social Ninja – Embed Social Feeds, User Reviews & Chat Widgets 30K+ · 4.8★ (71)
wp.org #12 ↑6 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 15 
Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7,322)
wp.org #19 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 4 places below merit 16 
Feed Them Social – Social Media Feeds, Video, and Photo Galleries 20K+ · 4.7★ (639)
wp.org #21 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 5 places below merit 17 
Ditty – Responsive News Tickers, Sliders, and Lists 30K+ · 4.6★ (106)
wp.org #18 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 18 
Social Feed Gallery 80K+ · 4.5★ (303)
wp.org #23 wp.org ranks it 5 places below merit 19 
WPZOOM Connect: Social Icons Widget & Block, Share Buttons & Click to Chat 90K+ · 4.9★ (144)
wp.org #24 ↓3 wp.org ranks it 5 places below merit 20 
Easy Social Icons 20K+ · 4.4★ (84)
wp.org #20 21 
Jetpack Social 30K+ · 3.3★ (74)
wp.org #13 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 8 places above merit 22 
Bit Social – Social Media Auto Poster and Scheduler 6K+ · 4.5★ (36)
wp.org #17 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 5 places above merit 23 
Inavii Social Feed – Live Social Proof Gallery 9K+ · 5.0★ (17) thin reviews
wp.org #22 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 24 Ocean Social Sharing 60K+ · 4.5★ (11) thin reviews
wp.org #15 ↓3 wp.org ranks it 9 places above merit Merit ranking caps the install boost at 10M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted 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.