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

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 “ultimate”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 of the top 20. 3 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

WP Ultimate Review shows at wp.org #5 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 60K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.4★ average from 17 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Popup Maker – Boost Sales, Conversions, Optins, Subscribers with the Ultimate WP Popup Builder places #6 on merit, 4.9★ from 4514 reviews, but shows at wp.org #11. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #1 2 Shortcodes Ultimate – Content Elements 400K+ · 4.9★ (5925) wp.org #2 3 Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528) wp.org #3 ↑2 4 Ultimate Blocks – 25+ Gutenberg Blocks for Block Editor 50K+ · 4.9★ (729) wp.org #4 ↓1 5 Ultimate Responsive Image Slider 30K+ · 4.5★ (248) wp.org #7 ↑5 2 too low 6 Popup Maker – Boost Sales, Conversions, Optins, Subscribers with the Ultimate WP Popup Builder 600K+ · 4.9★ (4514) wp.org #11 ↓4 5 too low 7 Ultimate FAQ Accordion Plugin 30K+ · 4.6★ (439) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 Ultimate Dashboard – Custom WordPress Dashboard 50K+ · 4.6★ (114) wp.org #8 9 Ultimate Addons for Beaver Builder (UABB) 20K+ · 5.0★ (332) wp.org #12 ↓1 3 too low 10 Ultimate Post Kit – Elementor Post Grid, Post Carousel, Post Slider & Blog Layout Widgets 30K+ · 4.8★ (58) wp.org #9 1 too high 11 WP Ultimate CSV Importer – WordPress CSV, XML & Excel Import Export 20K+ · 4.4★ (593) wp.org #14 3 too low 12 Ultimate Category Excluder 50K+ · 4.3★ (78) wp.org #10 2 too high 13 Spectra Legacy – Gutenberg Blocks 1M+ · 4.7★ (1872) wp.org #15 2 too low 14 Ultra Addons for Contact Form 7 60K+ · 4.8★ (107) wp.org #16 2 too low 15 Image Hover Effects Ultimate ( Image Gallery, Effects, Lightbox, Comparison & Magnifier ) 10K+ · 4.7★ (250) wp.org #20 5 too low 16 Ultimate Maps by Supsystic – OpenStreetMap, Leaflet & Mapbox, No API Key 10K+ · 4.6★ (86) wp.org #13 3 too high 17 WP Ultimate Review 60K+ · 3.4★ (17) wp.org #5 ↓1 12 too high 18 Ultimate Product Catalog 4K+ · 4.5★ (233) wp.org #17 1 too high 19 WP Ultimate Post Grid 4K+ · 4.4★ (32) wp.org #21 ↑1 2 too low 20 Ultimate Lightbox 1K+ · 4.1★ (19) wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too high 21 Ultimate Post List 2K+ · 4.6★ (13) wp.org #22 ↑1 1 too low 22 Ultimate Floating Widgets – Make popup sidebars 3K+ · 4.9★ (14) wp.org #23 ↑1 1 too low 23 Ultimate Store Kit – Store Builder Addons for Elementor, WooCommerce Store Builder, EDD Store Builder 3K+ · 4.5★ (10) wp.org #18 ↑1 5 too high 24 Export All Posts, Products, Orders & Users | WP Ultimate Exporter | WordPress CSV Export 6K+ · 3.2★ (16) wp.org #24

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.