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

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 “type text”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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

eRecht24 Legal Texts shows at wp.org #12 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 50K+ 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

Category AJAX Filter – Posts, Custom Post Types & Product Filter places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 158 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 Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418) wp.org #1 2 Post Types Order 600K+ · 4.5★ (296) wp.org #2 3 Image Alt Text 10K+ · 5.0★ (56) wp.org #3 4 Text To Speech TTS Accessibility 4K+ · 4.8★ (92) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too low 5 MB Custom Post Types & Custom Taxonomies 10K+ · 4.7★ (13) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #16 ↓4 10 too low 7 DTX – Dynamic Text Extension for Contact Form 7 100K+ · 4.7★ (99) wp.org #7 ↓2 8 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #14 ↑1 6 too low 9 Category AJAX Filter – Posts, Custom Post Types & Product Filter 6K+ · 4.9★ (158) wp.org #24 ↓1 15 too low 10 Text Unfold For Elementor 3K+ · 4.6★ (7) wp.org #6 ↑1 4 too high 11 ResponsiveVoice Text To Speech 7K+ · 3.9★ (34) wp.org #11 ↓1 12 Alt Text Tools 800+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #10 ↓1 2 too high 13 Auto Alt Text 4K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #9 ↓1 4 too high 14 Animated Text Block – Add Typing and Looping Text Effects 4K+ · 4.8★ (5) wp.org #8 ↑6 6 too high 15 Paste As Plain Text By Default 2K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #13 2 too high 16 JVM Rich Text Icons 3K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #17 1 too low 17 File Upload Types by WPForms 40K+ · 4.0★ (20) wp.org #18 ↑1 1 too low 18 Text to Speech – TTSWP 200+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #20 2 too low 19 ELEX WooCommerce Product Price Custom Text (Before & After Text) and Discount 2K+ · 4.6★ (10) wp.org #21 ↓1 2 too low 20 Text Typing – grab attention with animated typing headlines 3K+ · 3.8★ (6) wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too high 21 Text Replace – Find and Replace WordPress Strings 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #22 ↓1 1 too low 22 Custom post type templates for Elementor 700+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #23 1 too low 23 eRecht24 Legal Texts 50K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 ↓1 11 too high 24 Typing Text 500+ · 2.8★ (4) wp.org #15 ↑1 9 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.