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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “used css”

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 “used css”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

Modular Custom CSS shows at wp.org #10 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 400+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 6 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 4228 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 CSS & JavaScript Toolbox 10K+ · 4.8★ (84) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Jetpack Boost – Website Speed, Performance and Critical CSS 200K+ · 4.7★ (612) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Hummingbird Performance – Cache & Page Speed Optimization for Core Web Vitals | Critical CSS | Minify CSS | Defer CSS Javascript | CDN 70K+ · 4.7★ (1488) wp.org #7 3 too low 5 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 WPCode – Insert Headers and Footers + Custom Code Snippets – WordPress Code Manager 3M+ · 4.9★ (1915) wp.org #12 6 too low 7 Berq Used CSS – Remove Unused CSS Automatically 70+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #1 6 too high 8 Add Admin CSS 10K+ · 4.9★ (35) wp.org #9 1 too low 9 Woody Code Snippets – Insert PHP, CSS, JS, and Header/Footer Scripts 50K+ · 4.5★ (221) wp.org #11 2 too low 10 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #19 9 too low 11 CSS JS Manager, Async JavaScript, Defer Render Blocking CSS 1K+ · 4.8★ (90) wp.org #8 3 too high 12 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #20 8 too low 13 GravityWP – CSS Selector 4K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #5 8 too high 14 FluentSnippets – High-Performance Code Snippets, Header & Footer Code, Custom CSS & PHP Code Manager 50K+ · 4.7★ (78) wp.org #14 15 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #23 8 too low 16 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #22 6 too low 17 Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #18 1 too low 18 WindPress – Tailwind CSS integration for WordPress 3K+ · 5.0★ (37) wp.org #21 3 too low 19 Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) wp.org #24 5 too low 20 Modular Custom CSS 400+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #10 10 too high 21 Pattern CSS – The CSS Editor For Blocks 100+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #15 6 too high 22 Disable CSS JS Cache 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #13 9 too high 23 C CSS JS Files 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #17 6 too high 24 Advanced Custom CSS for Elementor 200+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #16 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.