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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “vertical tabs”

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 “vertical tabs”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Tab Ultimate shows at wp.org #7 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Max Mega Menu places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 882 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Custom Product Tabs for WooCommerce & WordPress Tabs Builder – Smart Tabs 10K+ · 4.9★ (134) wp.org #2 ↓1 1 too low 2 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #5 3 too low 3 Responsive Tabs — Horizontal, Vertical & Accordion Tabs for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #1 ↑1 2 too high 4 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #12 8 too low 5 Cool Timeline (Horizontal & Vertical Timeline) 20K+ · 4.7★ (333) wp.org #11 6 too low 6 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #13 ↑2 7 too low 7 Simple Side Tab 10K+ · 4.8★ (22) wp.org #6 ↑1 1 too high 8 Timeline Widget For Elementor (Elementor Timeline, Vertical & Horizontal Timeline) 70K+ · 4.8★ (248) wp.org #14 6 too low 9 Vertical News Scroller 5K+ · 4.3★ (17) wp.org #4 5 too high 10 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #17 7 too low 11 Easy Tabs Block – Smart, Lightweight & Responsive Tabs for the Block Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #3 8 too high 12 Max Mega Menu 300K+ · 4.8★ (882) wp.org #23 ↓4 11 too low 13 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #18 ↑6 5 too low 14 Qi Addons For Elementor 200K+ · 4.8★ (205) wp.org #24 ↓2 10 too low 15 Plethora Tabs + Accordions 2K+ · 4.9★ (8) wp.org #8 7 too high 16 Vertical Timeline Widget for Elementor 10K+ · 4.8★ (26) wp.org #16 17 Post Slider and Post Carousel with Post Vertical Scrolling Widget – A Responsive Post Slider 10K+ · 4.7★ (31) wp.org #19 ↓1 2 too low 18 WPB Accordion Menu – Collapsible Vertical Sidebar Responsive Mobile Menu – WooCommerce Category Accordion 10K+ · 4.4★ (54) wp.org #21 ↓1 3 too low 19 Vertical Image Slider – Responsive Thumbnail Slider with Lightbox 1K+ · 4.9★ (7) wp.org #10 9 too high 20 WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (583) wp.org #20 21 Tab Ultimate 1K+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #7 ↓1 14 too high 22 Tabs Block – Responsive Gutenberg Tabs for Block Editor 700+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 13 too high 23 Responsive Tabs For Elementor 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 ↓2 8 too high 24 Metro Tabs – Vertical, Responsive & Linkable Tabs Block 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 2 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.