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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “template maker”

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 “template maker”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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

SKT Templates – 100% Free Templates for Elementor & Gutenberg shows at wp.org #11 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 20K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 6 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Formidable Forms – Contact Form, Survey, Quiz, Payment, Calculator Form & Custom Form Builder places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 1388 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Popup Maker – Boost Sales, Conversions, Optins, Subscribers with the Ultimate WP Popup Builder 600K+ · 4.9★ (4514) wp.org #1 2 WP Recipe Maker 50K+ · 5.0★ (356) wp.org #2 3 Quiz and Survey Master (QSM) – Quiz Maker & Survey Maker 40K+ · 4.7★ (1282) wp.org #3 4 Form Maker by 10Web – Mobile-Friendly Drag & Drop Contact Form Builder 30K+ · 4.5★ (778) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too low 5 Popup Maker – Responsive popup, Exit Intent Pop up, Email Optins, Autoresponder & More 7K+ · 4.5★ (144) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Survey Maker by AYS 5K+ · 4.8★ (79) wp.org #6 ↓1 7 Popup Builder & Popup Maker for WordPress – OptinMonster Email Marketing and Lead Generation 1M+ · 4.3★ (821) wp.org #7 ↑1 8 MetForm – Contact Form, Survey, Quiz, Conditional Forms, Form Templates & Custom Form Builder for Elementor 500K+ · 4.7★ (509) wp.org #9 ↑1 1 too low 9 Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205) wp.org #12 3 too low 10 Formidable Forms – Contact Form, Survey, Quiz, Payment, Calculator Form & Custom Form Builder 300K+ · 4.8★ (1388) wp.org #14 ↑1 4 too low 11 Quiz Maker, Poll Maker & Survey Maker by Opinion Stage 6K+ · 4.4★ (277) wp.org #10 ↓1 1 too high 12 Poll Maker by AYS – Versus Polls, Anonymous Polls, Image Polls 6K+ · 4.4★ (91) wp.org #8 ↓1 4 too high 13 Popup Builder – Create highly converting, mobile friendly marketing popups. 200K+ · 4.7★ (2215) wp.org #18 5 too low 14 Strong Testimonials 80K+ · 4.8★ (614) wp.org #19 5 too low 15 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #16 1 too low 16 Slider, Gallery, and Carousel by MetaSlider – Image Slider, Video Slider 500K+ · 4.6★ (743) wp.org #22 ↑2 6 too low 17 AI Popup Builder & Popup Maker by OptiMonk 3K+ · 4.7★ (98) wp.org #17 18 AI Infographic Maker 600+ · 4.4★ (17) wp.org #13 5 too high 19 SKT Templates – 100% Free Templates for Elementor & Gutenberg 20K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #11 8 too high 20 Easy MCP AI – Connect Claude to WordPress: MCP Server for ChatGPT & AI Agents 30K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #20 ↑1 21 Testimonial Customer Feedback 1K+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #15 ↓1 6 too high 22 Quizably – Quiz Maker, Personality Quiz & Survey Builder 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #21 ↓1 1 too high 23 Easy Popup Lightbox Maker 40+ · 3.0★ (3) wp.org #24 ↓1 1 too low 24 Music Smartlink Maker & Concerts 50+ · 3.0★ (1) wp.org #23 ↓1 1 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.