Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “text based”

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 “text based”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 of the top 20. 4 plugins are 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

eRecht24 Legal Texts shows at wp.org #7 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 50K+ 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

TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation places #11 on merit, 4.7★ from 1667 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Weight Based Shipping for WooCommerce 50K+ · 4.6★ (83) wp.org #1 2 Image Alt Text 10K+ · 5.0★ (56) wp.org #2 3 Text To Speech TTS Accessibility 4K+ · 4.8★ (92) wp.org #3 4 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #10 6 too low 5 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #11 5 too low 7 I IP Based Login 500+ · 4.9★ (23) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 Auto Alt Text 4K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #4 4 too high 9 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #16 7 too low 10 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #18 ↑2 8 too low 11 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #24 ↓2 13 too low 12 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #22 ↓1 10 too low 13 Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4342) wp.org #19 ↓4 6 too low 14 AI Alt Text Generator 2K+ · 4.9★ (7) wp.org #5 9 too high 15 LiveChat – Live Chat Plugin for WP Websites 10K+ · 4.6★ (98) wp.org #17 ↓1 2 too low 16 Bulk Auto Image Alt Text (Alt tag, Alt attribute) optimizer (image SEO) 10K+ · 4.2★ (111) wp.org #13 3 too high 17 JVM Rich Text Icons 3K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #9 8 too high 18 Payment Gateway Based Fees and Discounts for WooCommerce 30K+ · 4.7★ (58) wp.org #14 ↑5 4 too high 19 ELEX WooCommerce Role Based Pricing 2K+ · 4.1★ (14) wp.org #12 7 too high 20 Text: AI chatbot, live chat & ticketing for customer service 100+ · 5.0★ (15) wp.org #20 ↓3 21 Gold Price Based on Weight 300+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #23 2 too low 22 ELEX WooCommerce Product Price Custom Text (Before & After Text) and Discount 2K+ · 4.6★ (10) wp.org #15 ↓1 7 too high 23 eRecht24 Legal Texts 50K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 16 too high 24 ElemCopy – Text Copy Button for Elementor 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #21 ↓3 3 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.