wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “text increase”
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 increase”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 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
MaxLimits – Increase Maximum Upload, Post & PHP Limits shows at wp.org #4 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 17 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
Popup Builder – Create highly converting, mobile friendly marketing popups. places #10 on merit, 4.7★ from 2215 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962)
wp.org #1 ↑1 2 
Text To Speech TTS Accessibility 4K+ · 4.8★ (92)
wp.org #2 ↓1 3 
EasyMedia – Increase Media Upload File Size | Role-Based Upload Limit | Increase Execution Time 70K+ · 4.9★ (99)
wp.org #3 4 
Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322)
wp.org #7 ↑1 3 too low 5 
Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132)
wp.org #9 4 too low 6 
The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461)
wp.org #11 ↑4 5 too low 7 
TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667)
wp.org #13 ↓1 6 too low 8 
Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4342)
wp.org #14 6 too low 9 
Customer Reviews for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (1539)
wp.org #16 ↑1 7 too low 10 Popup Builder – Create highly converting, mobile friendly marketing popups. 200K+ · 4.7★ (2215)
wp.org #19 9 too low 11 
Poptin – Email Marketing Automation, Newsletter & Exit Pop Ups, Email Popups 20K+ · 4.9★ (701)
wp.org #20 9 too low 12 
Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641)
wp.org #12 ↓2 13 
Auto Alt Text 4K+ · 5.0★ (8) thin reviews
wp.org #5 8 too high 14 
Modula Image Gallery – Photo Grid & Video Gallery 100K+ · 4.7★ (616)
wp.org #22 8 too low 15 
Auto Image Attributes From Filename With Bulk Updater (Add Alt Text, Image Title For Image SEO) 100K+ · 4.8★ (93)
wp.org #15 ↓2 16 
Alt Text Tools 800+ · 5.0★ (10) thin reviews
wp.org #6 10 too high 17 
GSpeech TTS – WordPress Text To Speech Plugin 3K+ · 4.8★ (178)
wp.org #18 1 too low 18 
Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333)
wp.org #21 3 too low 19 
BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323)
wp.org #24 5 too low 20 
Live Chat Plugin for WooCommerce – LiveChat 900+ · 4.5★ (22) thin reviews
wp.org #17 ↓1 3 too high 21 MaxLimits – Increase Maximum Upload, Post & PHP Limits 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews
wp.org #4 17 too high 22 
Text Typing – grab attention with animated typing headlines 3K+ · 3.8★ (6) thin reviews
wp.org #8 14 too high 23 
Viral Buy for Me for WooCommerce Increase Sales 10+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews
wp.org #23 ↑1 24 
Typing Text 500+ · 2.8★ (4) thin reviews
wp.org #10 ↑1 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.