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← Rankings

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

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 “styles”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

MotoPress Hotel Booking Styles & Templates shows at wp.org #10 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 1.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 1680 reviews, but shows at wp.org #15. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #1 2 Gravity Booster – Styles & Layouts for Gravity Forms 30K+ · 4.6★ (199) wp.org #2 3 Style Kits for Elementor 10K+ · 4.7★ (44) wp.org #3 4 bbp style pack 6K+ · 4.9★ (100) wp.org #4 ↑1 5 Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #7 ↑5 2 too low 6 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #8 ↓1 2 too low 7 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #12 ↓1 4 too low 9 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #15 6 too low 10 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #11 ↑5 1 too low 11 Visual CSS Style Editor 30K+ · 4.1★ (90) wp.org #9 ↓1 2 too high 12 Classic Editor 8M+ · 4.9★ (1251) wp.org #16 ↑1 4 too low 13 Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4342) wp.org #17 ↑2 4 too low 14 WP Store Locator 40K+ · 4.8★ (312) wp.org #23 ↓1 9 too low 15 Otter Blocks – Gutenberg Blocks, Page Builder for Gutenberg Editor & FSE 300K+ · 4.7★ (251) wp.org #18 ↓4 3 too low 16 Assets manager, dequeue scripts, dequeue styles for WordPress 2K+ · 4.3★ (53) wp.org #14 ↓1 2 too high 17 Abs – Additional block styles 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #5 ↓1 12 too high 18 Icon List Block – Add Icon-Based Lists with Custom Styles 4K+ · 3.7★ (6) wp.org #13 ↓4 5 too high 19 Style Contact Form 7 1K+ · 4.8★ (8) wp.org #21 2 too low 20 Disable Global Style 500+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too high 21 Optimize Scripts & Styles 50+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #20 1 too high 22 CM Header and Footer – Add custom scripts and styles to your header and footer with ease 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #22 ↑1 23 Gallery Styles – Sort & Style the Gallery Block (Exif, Hover, Duotone) 500+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 MotoPress Hotel Booking Styles & Templates 10K+ · 1.0★ (1) 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.