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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “texts”

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 “texts”, we and wp.org disagree 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 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

Re-Add Text Justify Button shows at wp.org #9 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 20K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Translate WordPress with GTranslate places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 4962 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 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #2 ↑1 1 too low 2 Image Alt Text 10K+ · 5.0★ (56) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7520) wp.org #8 5 too low 4 Alt Magic: AI Image Alt Text Generator for WP & Image Rename 2K+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #13 ↓3 8 too low 6 Alt Text AI – Automatically generate image alt text for SEO and accessibility 20K+ · 4.7★ (35) wp.org #7 ↑2 1 too low 7 Text To Speech TTS Accessibility 4K+ · 4.8★ (92) wp.org #10 ↑3 3 too low 8 Legal Text Connector of the IT-Recht Kanzlei 10K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #3 ↓1 5 too high 9 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #24 15 too low 10 eRecht24 Legal Texts 50K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #1 9 too high 11 Auto Image Attributes From Filename With Bulk Updater (Add Alt Text, Image Title For Image SEO) 100K+ · 4.8★ (93) wp.org #19 ↓2 8 too low 12 Better Search Replace 1M+ · 4.3★ (546) wp.org #21 ↓3 9 too low 13 Text Unfold For Elementor 3K+ · 4.6★ (7) wp.org #6 7 too high 14 DTX – Dynamic Text Extension for Contact Form 7 100K+ · 4.7★ (99) wp.org #16 ↓9 2 too low 15 Change Storefront Footer Copyright Text 3K+ · 4.9★ (34) wp.org #23 ↑1 8 too low 16 Auto Alt Text 4K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #12 ↑2 4 too high 17 Paste As Plain Text By Default 2K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #14 3 too high 18 Alt Text Tools 800+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #15 3 too high 19 ResponsiveVoice Text To Speech 7K+ · 3.9★ (34) wp.org #18 ↓2 1 too high 20 Re-Add Text Justify Button 20K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #9 ↑3 11 too high 21 Animated Text Block – Add Typing and Looping Text Effects 4K+ · 4.8★ (5) wp.org #11 10 too high 22 JVM Rich Text Icons 3K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #22 23 AI Alt Text Generator 2K+ · 4.9★ (7) wp.org #20 ↓9 3 too high 24 Marquee Running Text 5K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #17 7 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.