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

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 formatting”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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 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

Text Case Converter shows at wp.org #5 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Admin Columns places #7 on merit, 4.9★ from 1652 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 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #1 2 Paste As Plain Text By Default 2K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #2 3 Advanced Editor Tools 1M+ · 4.5★ (354) wp.org #7 4 too low 4 Alt Text Tools 800+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More 4M+ · 4.8★ (5209) wp.org #15 ↓2 10 too low 6 We’re Open! 5K+ · 5.0★ (45) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 Admin Columns 100K+ · 4.9★ (1652) wp.org #20 13 too low 8 Keep Emoticons as Text 700+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #4 4 too high 9 DearFlip – PDF Flipbook, 3D Flipbook, PDF embed, PDF viewer 200K+ · 4.9★ (194) wp.org #16 ↓5 7 too low 10 Black Studio TinyMCE Widget 200K+ · 4.8★ (191) wp.org #18 ↑1 8 too low 11 Copy Anything to Clipboard for WordPress – Copy Button, Copy Text & Copy Code 10K+ · 4.5★ (36) wp.org #11 ↑1 12 Better Messages – Chat Rooms, Group Chat, Private Messages & AI Chat Bots 10K+ · 4.8★ (142) wp.org #23 11 too low 13 Category Posts Block 40K+ · 4.5★ (79) wp.org #21 8 too low 14 Alt Magic: AI Image Alt Text Generator for WP & Image Rename 2K+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #14 ↑1 15 Generate PDF using Contact Form 7 4K+ · 4.7★ (40) wp.org #22 7 too low 16 Preserve Code Formatting 400+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #6 10 too high 17 Text Case Converter 300+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #5 12 too high 18 Fix Alt Text 1K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too low 19 French Typo 200+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #9 10 too high 20 Lang Attribute for the Block Editor 90+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #12 ↑2 8 too high 21 Rich Text Formats 50+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #13 ↑3 8 too high 22 RobArt Text Collector 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 12 too high 23 Rich Text Formats Block 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 6 too high 24 Term Description: Rich Text Editor (Powered by TinyMCE) for WooCommerce 700+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24

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.