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

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 “stickies”, 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

Sticky Elementor – Sticky Header, Menu Color After Sticky, Logo Swap & Back to Top Button shows at wp.org #15 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 600+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Folders – Unlimited Folders to Organize Media Library Folder, Pages, Posts, File Manager places #10 on merit, 5.0★ from 1526 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Sticky Menu & Sticky Header 90K+ · 4.7★ (763) wp.org #1 2 My Sticky Bar – Floating Notification Bar & Sticky Header (formerly myStickymenu) 100K+ · 4.9★ (1199) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads 300K+ · 4.9★ (2433) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Sticky Header Effects for Elementor 300K+ · 4.5★ (69) wp.org #2 2 too high 5 All-in-one Sticky Floating Contact Form, Call, Click to Chat, and 50+ Social Icon Tabs – My Sticky Elements 40K+ · 4.9★ (542) wp.org #5 6 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #6 7 Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense 90K+ · 4.9★ (1463) wp.org #9 2 too low 8 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #10 2 too low 9 WP Sticky Sidebar – Floating Sidebar On Scroll for Any Theme 10K+ · 4.9★ (153) wp.org #7 2 too high 10 Folders – Unlimited Folders to Organize Media Library Folder, Pages, Posts, File Manager 90K+ · 5.0★ (1526) wp.org #20 10 too low 11 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #18 7 too low 12 Buttonizer – Floating Menus, Sticky Buttons, & Popup Builder 70K+ · 4.5★ (151) wp.org #12 13 Sticky Chat Widget – Floating Chat Icons, Contact Form, Call, Click to Chat, Email & Message Buttons 10K+ · 5.0★ (39) wp.org #14 1 too low 14 Sticky Block for Gutenberg Editor 7K+ · 4.6★ (11) wp.org #8 6 too high 15 Catch Sticky Menu 2K+ · 5.0★ (15) wp.org #11 4 too high 16 Easy Table of Contents 600K+ · 4.4★ (221) wp.org #24 8 too low 17 Announcer – Sticky Message Banner & Notification Bar 10K+ · 4.8★ (40) wp.org #22 5 too low 18 All-in-One Sticky Anything – Click to Call, Fixed Widget, Sticky Header, Menu & Sidebar 1K+ · 4.9★ (15) wp.org #16 2 too high 19 Sticky Notes for WP Dashboard 1K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #13 6 too high 20 Sticky Social Link 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #19 1 too high 21 Sticky Buttons – Floating Buttons Builder 10K+ · 3.7★ (6) wp.org #17 4 too high 22 WPC Sticky Add To Cart for WooCommerce 2K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #21 1 too high 23 Social Icons Sticky 1K+ · 4.4★ (5) wp.org #23 24 Sticky Elementor – Sticky Header, Menu Color After Sticky, Logo Swap & Back to Top Button 600+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 9 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.