Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “spinner box”

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 “spinner box”, 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

Addonify – Quick View For WooCommerce shows at wp.org #7 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Better Messages – Chat Rooms, Group Chat, Private Messages & AI Chat Bots places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 142 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #1 2 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #4 ↑1 2 too low 3 HollerBox — Fast & Effective Popups & Lead-Generation 2K+ · 4.8★ (32) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Smush – Image Optimization, Compression, Lazy Load, WebP & CDN 1M+ · 4.8★ (6053) wp.org #5 ↓2 1 too low 5 Redux Framework 900K+ · 4.4★ (273) wp.org #3 ↓2 2 too high 6 Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) wp.org #6 7 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #8 ↓1 1 too low 8 a3 Lazy Load 80K+ · 4.3★ (148) wp.org #9 ↓1 1 too low 9 Document Embedder – let visitors read files without downloading 9K+ · 4.9★ (120) wp.org #10 ↓1 1 too low 10 Event Tickets and Registration 90K+ · 3.5★ (236) wp.org #12 ↓2 2 too low 11 Dynamic Visibility for Elementor 50K+ · 4.6★ (89) wp.org #17 ↓2 6 too low 12 Better Messages – Chat Rooms, Group Chat, Private Messages & AI Chat Bots 10K+ · 4.8★ (142) wp.org #22 ↑1 10 too low 13 Master Addons for Elementor – Elementor Addons, Widgets, Mega Menu Builder, Popup Builder, Widget Builder & Template Kits 30K+ · 4.5★ (212) wp.org #24 ↓5 11 too low 14 SearchWP Live Ajax Search 40K+ · 4.7★ (36) wp.org #15 ↓2 1 too low 15 NEX-Forms – Ultimate Forms Plugin for WordPress 5K+ · 4.1★ (135) wp.org #23 ↓1 8 too low 16 Event Tickets with Ticket Scanner 1K+ · 4.8★ (24) wp.org #16 17 Grid Gallery – for Photo Gallery, Image Gallery & Portfolio 1K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #11 6 too high 18 GutenBee – Gutenberg Blocks 6K+ · 4.9★ (18) wp.org #19 ↓3 1 too low 19 Autocomplete Google Address 2K+ · 4.0★ (25) wp.org #18 ↓1 1 too high 20 All In One Lightbox – show any media in beautiful popups 3K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #14 6 too high 21 Addonify – Quick View For WooCommerce 2K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #7 ↓3 14 too high 22 Advanced Post Block – Display Your Posts Exactly How You Want 10K+ · 4.2★ (17) wp.org #21 1 too high 23 Subscriptions for WooCommerce Recurring Payments with Membership Content Restriction 500+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #20 3 too high 24 Hash Form – Drag & Drop Form Builder 3K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #13 ↓1 11 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.