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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “stick”

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 “stick”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 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

Sticky Content – Make Any Section Sticky on Scroll shows at wp.org #13 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 500+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Social Media Share Buttons & Social Sharing Icons places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 5333 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Sticky Menu & Sticky Header 90K+ · 4.7★ (763) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 WP Sticky Sidebar – Floating Sidebar On Scroll for Any Theme 10K+ · 4.9★ (153) wp.org #4 ↑1 2 too low 3 Ocean Stick Anything 20K+ · 4.8★ (8) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 My Sticky Bar – Floating Notification Bar & Sticky Header (formerly myStickymenu) 100K+ · 4.9★ (1199) wp.org #7 ↓1 3 too low 5 Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads 300K+ · 4.9★ (2433) wp.org #8 ↑1 3 too low 6 Schedule Post Changes With PublishPress Future: Unpublish, Delete, Change Status, Trash, Change Categories 100K+ · 4.5★ (172) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too high 7 Social Media Share Buttons & Social Sharing Icons 100K+ · 4.8★ (5333) wp.org #17 ↓7 10 too low 8 Hubbub Lite – Fast, free social sharing and follow buttons 30K+ · 4.7★ (173) wp.org #14 ↓2 6 too low 9 Photonic Gallery & Lightbox for Flickr, SmugMug & Others 10K+ · 4.8★ (193) wp.org #16 ↑4 7 too low 10 CMS Tree Page View – Reorder Pages with a Drag-and-Drop Tree 50K+ · 4.9★ (365) wp.org #20 ↓10 10 too low 11 Stick My Header for Astra 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #3 8 too high 12 Sticky Block for Gutenberg Editor 7K+ · 4.6★ (11) wp.org #6 ↑1 6 too high 13 Feeds for YouTube (YouTube video, channel, and gallery plugin) 100K+ · 4.8★ (205) wp.org #21 8 too low 14 Simple Sticky Add To Cart For WooCommerce 800+ · 4.3★ (39) wp.org #10 ↑4 4 too high 15 All-in-One Sticky Anything – Click to Call, Fixed Widget, Sticky Header, Menu & Sidebar 1K+ · 4.9★ (15) wp.org #15 ↑2 16 WP Reading Progress 3K+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #18 ↑1 2 too low 17 Bottom Admin Toolbar 1K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #9 ↓1 8 too high 18 Sticky Side Buttons 10K+ · 4.5★ (40) wp.org #24 ↓1 6 too low 19 Easy Google AdSense 5K+ · 4.3★ (7) wp.org #11 ↑4 8 too high 20 Sticky Banner 800+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #12 ↑1 8 too high 21 Sticky Copy Button for Code Blocks 50+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #22 1 too low 22 Admin Sticky Sidebar 900+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↑1 1 too low 23 Auto Delete Applications – Add-on for HireZoot 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 4 too high 24 Sticky Content – Make Any Section Sticky on Scroll 500+ · 3.0★ (1) wp.org #13 ↑3 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.