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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “social proof”

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 proof”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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

Nudgify Social Proof shows at wp.org #11 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 500+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Easy Social Feed – All In One Social Feed Plugin for WordPress places #10 on merit, 4.6★ from 502 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #1 2 Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – Easy Social Feeds Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4358) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Customer Reviews for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (1539) wp.org #5 ↑1 2 too low 4 Inavii Social Feed – Live Social Proof Gallery 9K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #2 2 too high 5 ProveSource Social Proof 2K+ · 4.8★ (72) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too high 6 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #7 ↑5 1 too low 7 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #6 ↓2 1 too high 8 Social Feed Gallery 80K+ · 4.5★ (303) wp.org #10 ↑4 2 too low 9 NotificationX – FOMO, Live Sales Notification, WooCommerce Sales Popup, GDPR, Social Proof, Announcement Banner & Floating Notification Bar 30K+ · 4.8★ (228) wp.org #12 ↓2 3 too low 10 Easy Social Feed – All In One Social Feed Plugin for WordPress 30K+ · 4.6★ (502) wp.org #16 ↑8 6 too low 11 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1668) wp.org #15 ↓3 4 too low 12 Hubbub Lite – Fast, free social sharing and follow buttons 30K+ · 4.7★ (173) wp.org #14 ↓5 2 too low 13 Widgets for Social Photo Feed 10K+ · 4.7★ (28) wp.org #8 ↑5 5 too high 14 WP Social Ninja – Embed Social Feeds, User Reviews & Chat Widgets 30K+ · 4.8★ (71) wp.org #13 ↓2 1 too high 15 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #22 7 too low 16 Yotpo Product Reviews 2K+ · 4.5★ (192) wp.org #24 8 too low 17 WPZOOM Social Feed Widget & Block 50K+ · 4.3★ (51) wp.org #19 ↓1 2 too low 18 SALERT – Social Proof Notifications & Live Sales Popup 8K+ · 3.9★ (16) wp.org #9 ↓2 9 too high 19 FOMO & Social Proof Notifications by TrustPulse – Best WordPress FOMO Plugin 10K+ · 4.5★ (35) wp.org #21 2 too low 20 Flow-Flow Social Streams 7K+ · 3.3★ (100) wp.org #18 ↑1 2 too high 21 Tagembed: Social Media Feeds and Customer Reviews Widget 9K+ · 3.9★ (62) wp.org #23 ↑1 2 too low 22 WiserNotify – Social Proof & FOMO Notifications, WooCommerce Sales Popups, Reviews & Announcement Bar 900+ · 5.0★ (29) wp.org #20 2 too high 23 Nudgify Social Proof 500+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #11 ↓3 12 too high 24 Social Proof Popups & Real-Time Notifications – Herd Effects 900+ · 3.9★ (15) wp.org #17 ↓1 7 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.