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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “trailing cursor”

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 “trailing cursor”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 of the top 20. 4 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

CursorFlex – Stylish Cursor Effects for WordPress shows at wp.org #5 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 10+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP Table Builder – Drag & Drop Table Builder places #5 on merit, 4.8★ from 681 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 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #3 2 too low 2 Unlimited Elements for Elementor 300K+ · 4.8★ (525) wp.org #7 5 too low 3 OAuth Single Sign On – SSO (OAuth Client) 6K+ · 4.9★ (327) wp.org #11 8 too low 4 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #13 ↑1 9 too low 5 WP Table Builder – Drag & Drop Table Builder 50K+ · 4.8★ (681) wp.org #20 ↑1 15 too low 6 Cursor Style & Animation 70+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #2 4 too high 7 Webheadcoder Multi-Step Forms for Contact Form 7 50K+ · 4.2★ (49) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 Smooth Custom Cursor 400+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #1 7 too high 9 Kirki – Freeform Page Builder, Website Builder & Customizer 400K+ · 4.5★ (81) wp.org #17 8 too low 10 WP Fusion Lite – Marketing Automation and CRM Integration for WordPress 4K+ · 5.0★ (69) wp.org #21 ↓1 11 too low 11 WPSmartPay – Payment Forms, Invoices, Donations & Subscriptions 100+ · 4.7★ (18) wp.org #12 ↑1 1 too low 12 Cursor Trail 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #4 ↓1 8 too high 13 Easy Affiliate Links 6K+ · 4.2★ (34) wp.org #22 9 too low 14 Searchips Search By Image for WooCommerce 10+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #10 ↑2 4 too high 15 Blockenberg — 645 Advanced Gutenberg Blocks, 683 Templates and AI Agent for WordPress Block Editor 1K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #8 ↑1 7 too high 16 CursorFlex – Stylish Cursor Effects for WordPress 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #5 ↓1 11 too high 17 RobArt Text Collector 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 ↑1 8 too high 18 Cursora – Custom Cursor for Any Theme & Page Builder — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 4 too high 19 MoxKit Addons for Elementor — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 ↑1 4 too high 20 Zloj MCP – MCP Server for Claude, ChatGPT & AI Agents — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 2 too high 21 Museder RestoreOne 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 2 too high 22 CookieKita — GDPR Consent & Cookie Banner 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 1 too low 23 D DigiClone Lite – Persian CSV Import for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 PilotPress 900+ · 2.2★ (5) wp.org #16 ↓1 8 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.