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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “visual design”

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 “visual design”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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

GTranslate Visual Addon shows at wp.org #5 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 400+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Starter Templates: AI-Powered Website Templates for Elementor & Gutenberg places #12 on merit, 4.9★ from 4755 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Gallery by Visual Portfolio 60K+ · 4.8★ (340) wp.org #1 2 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #2 3 Visual Composer Website Builder 30K+ · 4.6★ (220) wp.org #3 4 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Visual CSS Style Editor 30K+ · 4.1★ (90) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 Page Builder by SiteOrigin 400K+ · 4.8★ (1005) wp.org #9 2 too low 8 Flipbox – Awesomes Flip Boxes Image Overlay 9K+ · 4.7★ (149) wp.org #7 1 too high 9 Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528) wp.org #11 ↑5 2 too low 10 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #17 ↓3 7 too low 11 Post and Page Builder by BoldGrid – Visual Drag and Drop Editor 50K+ · 4.7★ (140) wp.org #15 4 too low 12 Starter Templates: AI-Powered Website Templates for Elementor & Gutenberg 1M+ · 4.9★ (4755) wp.org #21 9 too low 13 Mega Addons For WPBakery Page Builder 20K+ · 4.2★ (57) wp.org #10 3 too high 14 Depicter — Popup & Slider Builder 70K+ · 4.6★ (235) wp.org #12 ↑1 2 too high 15 Kirki – Freeform Page Builder, Website Builder & Customizer 400K+ · 4.5★ (81) wp.org #13 ↓2 2 too high 16 Video Gallery – YouTube Gallery, Playlist & Video Grid 2K+ · 4.9★ (128) wp.org #23 ↑1 7 too low 17 Atarim – AI Agency for WordPress: Edit Pages, Fix Code, Update Plugins, SEO & Client Feedback 1K+ · 4.9★ (126) wp.org #18 1 too low 18 Custom Fonts – Host Your Fonts Locally 400K+ · 4.3★ (62) wp.org #24 6 too low 19 Ibtana – WordPress Website Builder 10K+ · 4.3★ (30) wp.org #14 ↓2 5 too high 20 Gutenify – Visual Site Builder Blocks & Starter Templates 5K+ · 4.5★ (11) wp.org #22 ↑1 2 too low 21 GTranslate Visual Addon 400+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #5 16 too high 22 WebChange Detector: Visual Regression Testing & Visual Checks After Updates 300+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #19 ↑1 3 too high 23 Innovs WPBakery Visual Composer WHMCS Elements 1K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #20 ↓1 3 too high 24 Visual Builder for Contact Form 7 400+ · 3.7★ (6) 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.