wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “top menu”

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 “top menu”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 5 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

MakeITeasy Back To Top shows at wp.org #17 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 7 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

ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 2051 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 signals wp.org

WebberZone Top 10 — Popular Posts 10K+ · 4.6★ (102) wp.org #1 ↑2 2

WPFront Scroll Top 200K+ · 4.9★ (142) wp.org #2 3

Admin Menu Editor 300K+ · 4.6★ (312) wp.org #3 ↑2 4

Max Mega Menu 300K+ · 4.8★ (882) wp.org #4 ↑2 5

Sticky Menu & Sticky Header 90K+ · 4.7★ (763) wp.org #5 ↓4 6

Nav Menu Roles 70K+ · 4.9★ (219) wp.org #6 ↑1 7

Responsive Menu – Mobile Menu & Hamburger Menu Builder 70K+ · 4.5★ (574) wp.org #7 ↓3 8

WP Mobile Menu – The Mobile-Friendly Responsive Menu 70K+ · 4.7★ (256) wp.org #8 9

WP Responsive Menu 30K+ · 4.3★ (100) wp.org #9 10

ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #20 ↑2 10 too low 11

Float menu – awesome floating side menu 30K+ · 4.4★ (41) wp.org #10 1 too high 12

Simple Floating Menu 10K+ · 5.0★ (38) wp.org #13 1 too low 13

Admin Menu Tree Page View 10K+ · 4.6★ (48) wp.org #15 1 too low 15

Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) not PHP-currentheavy footprint wp.org #22 ↓1 7 too low 16

Advanced Sidebar Menu 10K+ · 4.5★ (37) wp.org #16 17

Fixed Bottom Menu 4K+ · 5.0★ (11) thin reviews wp.org #14 3 too high 18

Ollie Menu Designer 6K+ · 5.0★ (8) thin reviews wp.org #12 6 too high 19

Admin Menu Search 3K+ · 4.9★ (14) thin reviews wp.org #18 1 too high 20

SlickNav Mobile Menu 3K+ · 4.8★ (24) thin reviews wp.org #21 ↓1 1 too low 21

Offcanvas Mobile Menu 800+ · 4.9★ (18) thin reviews wp.org #24 3 too low 22

Automatically Hierarchic Categories in Menu 2K+ · 4.6★ (13) thin reviews wp.org #23 1 too low 23

Side Menu Lite – Sticky Floating Side Menu 7K+ · 4.0★ (12) thin reviews wp.org #19 4 too high 24

MakeITeasy Back To Top 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews 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.