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← Rankings

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

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 widget”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 2 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

Animated Text Block – Add Typing and Looping Text Effects shows at wp.org #11 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 4K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.8★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Translate WordPress with GTranslate places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 4962 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 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #1 2 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #2 3 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #3 4 Rich Showcase for Google Reviews 100K+ · 4.9★ (1623) wp.org #6 ↑7 2 too low 5 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too high 6 Black Studio TinyMCE Widget 200K+ · 4.8★ (191) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too high 7 Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails 100K+ · 4.8★ (215) wp.org #7 ↑4 8 Text To Speech TTS Accessibility 4K+ · 4.8★ (92) wp.org #9 ↑1 1 too low 9 Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528) wp.org #14 ↑1 5 too low 10 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #20 ↓1 10 too low 11 Shortcode Widget 10K+ · 4.9★ (34) wp.org #10 ↓4 1 too high 12 Timeline Widget For Elementor (Elementor Timeline, Vertical & Horizontal Timeline) 70K+ · 4.8★ (248) wp.org #19 ↓1 7 too low 13 Maps Widget for Google Maps 20K+ · 4.6★ (512) wp.org #24 ↓1 11 too low 14 Content Blocks (Custom Post Widget) 10K+ · 4.9★ (80) wp.org #18 ↓1 4 too low 15 WPZOOM Social Feed Widget & Block 50K+ · 4.3★ (51) wp.org #12 ↓3 3 too high 16 AccessiYes Accessibility Widget for ADA, EAA & WCAG Readiness 20K+ · 4.8★ (36) wp.org #13 ↓5 3 too high 17 GR Widget – Google Reviews Widget 900+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #8 ↑6 9 too high 18 SiteOrigin Widgets Bundle 400K+ · 4.9★ (134) wp.org #23 ↓7 5 too low 19 DTX – Dynamic Text Extension for Contact Form 7 100K+ · 4.7★ (99) wp.org #16 ↓9 3 too high 20 Tagembed: Social Media Feeds and Customer Reviews Widget 9K+ · 3.9★ (62) wp.org #22 ↑2 2 too low 21 Animated Text Block – Add Typing and Looping Text Effects 4K+ · 4.8★ (5) wp.org #11 ↑11 10 too high 22 AI Alt Text Generator 2K+ · 4.9★ (7) wp.org #17 ↓5 5 too high 23 Marquee Running Text 5K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #15 8 too high 24 eRecht24 Legal Texts 50K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↓1 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.