wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “specific page css”
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 “specific page css”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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
GravityWP – CSS Selector shows at wp.org #10 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 4K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 8 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
Asset CleanUp: Page Speed Booster places #11 on merit, 4.9★ from 1564 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322)
wp.org #1 2 
Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517)
wp.org #2 3 
Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333)
wp.org #4 1 too low 4 
WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617)
wp.org #5 1 too low 5 
Post/Page Specific Custom Code 6K+ · 4.6★ (42)
wp.org #3 2 too high 6 
Hummingbird Performance – Cache & Page Speed Optimization for Core Web Vitals | Critical CSS | Minify CSS | Defer CSS Javascript | CDN 70K+ · 4.7★ (1488)
wp.org #9 3 too low 7 
Page scroll to id 100K+ · 4.9★ (225)
wp.org #7 8 
CSS & JavaScript Toolbox 10K+ · 4.8★ (84)
wp.org #6 2 too high 9 
Folders – Unlimited Folders to Organize Media Library Folder, Pages, Posts, File Manager 90K+ · 5.0★ (1526)
wp.org #14 5 too low 10 
PPWP – Password Protect Pages 30K+ · 4.7★ (271)
wp.org #12 2 too low 11 Asset CleanUp: Page Speed Booster 100K+ · 4.9★ (1564)
wp.org #20 9 too low 12 
Simple CSS 80K+ · 4.9★ (60)
wp.org #11 1 too high 13 
Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667)
wp.org #15 2 too low 14 
Greenshift – animation and page builder blocks 70K+ · 4.8★ (107)
wp.org #13 1 too high 15 
WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228)
wp.org #21 6 too low 16 
Woody Code Snippets – Insert PHP, CSS, JS, and Header/Footer Scripts 50K+ · 4.5★ (221)
wp.org #19 3 too low 17 
Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641)
wp.org #16 1 too high 18 
CSS JS Manager, Async JavaScript, Defer Render Blocking CSS 1K+ · 4.8★ (90)
wp.org #17 1 too high 19 
WP Duplicate Page 60K+ · 4.2★ (16) thin reviews
wp.org #8 11 too high 20 
WP Add Custom CSS 60K+ · 4.8★ (89)
wp.org #22 2 too low 21 
Add Admin CSS 10K+ · 4.9★ (35)
wp.org #18 3 too high 22 
FluentSnippets – High-Performance Code Snippets, Header & Footer Code, Custom CSS & PHP Code Manager 50K+ · 4.7★ (78)
wp.org #24 2 too low 23 
Bulk Page Generator and Mass Page Builder – Page Generator 3K+ · 4.6★ (70)
wp.org #23 24 GravityWP – CSS Selector 4K+ · 5.0★ (8) thin reviews
wp.org #10 14 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.