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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “telephone button”

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 “telephone button”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

imoje shows at wp.org #15 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Extra Product Options For WooCommerce | Custom Product Addons and Fields places #5 on merit, 4.9★ from 219 reviews, but shows at wp.org #9. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Social Share Buttons 1K+ · 4.8★ (28) wp.org #1 2 WPZOOM Connect: Social Icons Widget & Block, Share Buttons & Click to Chat 90K+ · 4.9★ (144) wp.org #2 3 Joinchat – Enhanced “click to chat” 700K+ · 4.7★ (189) wp.org #3 4 User Profile Builder – Beautiful User Registration Forms, User Profiles & User Role Editor 40K+ · 4.7★ (738) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Extra Product Options For WooCommerce | Custom Product Addons and Fields 30K+ · 4.9★ (219) wp.org #9 4 too low 6 Quick PayPal Payments: Payment Button & Form 1K+ · 4.4★ (32) wp.org #4 2 too high 7 Checkout Field Editor for WooCommerce – Checkout Manager 20K+ · 4.9★ (165) wp.org #10 3 too low 8 Conditional Fields for Elementor Form – Apply Conditional Logic 10K+ · 4.7★ (32) wp.org #8 9 WP Socializer – Simple & Easy Social Media Share Icons 10K+ · 4.5★ (128) wp.org #12 3 too low 10 RTMForm – Contact Form, Multi-Step Forms & Form Templates for Elementor 30K+ · 4.3★ (14) wp.org #6 ↑1 4 too high 11 Spoki – Chat Buttons and WooCommerce Notifications 600+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #7 ↓1 4 too high 12 Cool FormKit Lite – Advanced Form Builder for Elementor 20K+ · 4.6★ (25) wp.org #11 1 too high 13 Country & Phone Field Contact Form 7 40K+ · 4.5★ (41) wp.org #16 ↓1 3 too low 14 Paytium: Mollie payment forms & donations 2K+ · 4.5★ (64) wp.org #21 ↑1 7 too low 15 Form Input Masks For Elementor Forms 10K+ · 4.1★ (18) wp.org #13 2 too high 16 MyParcel 8K+ · 3.9★ (48) wp.org #17 ↑1 1 too low 17 Contact Forms by Cimatti 700+ · 4.4★ (16) wp.org #20 ↓1 3 too low 18 Frontend Post Submission Manager Lite – Guest Post and Frontend Submission Forms 1K+ · 4.5★ (22) wp.org #24 6 too low 19 RTMKit for Elementor – Modular Addons, Widgets, Templates, Icon Library, GSAP Animations, MCP & Store Ready 40K+ · 2.7★ (16) wp.org #14 5 too high 20 Email Inquiry & Cart Options for WooCommerce 800+ · 3.2★ (20) wp.org #18 ↓1 2 too high 21 CIELO API PIX, credit card, debit payment for WooCommerce 600+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #23 2 too low 22 imoje 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 ↑1 7 too high 23 Cryptex | E-Mail Address Protection 800+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #22 ↓1 1 too high 24 Pay. Payment Methods for WooCommerce 3K+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #19 ↑1 5 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.