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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “web ar”

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 “web ar”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 16 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

Photo Sphere Viewer – 360° Virtual Tour, Panorama, 360 Video & AR 3D Viewer shows at wp.org #5 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 600+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.5★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

User Submitted Posts – Enable Users to Submit Posts from the Front End places #5 on merit, 4.8★ from 913 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 PausAR – 3D and AR for Elementor 300+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #1 2 AR for WordPress 300+ · 4.6★ (10) wp.org #2 3 Greenshift – animation and page builder blocks 70K+ · 4.8★ (107) wp.org #8 5 too low 4 SportsPress – Sports Club & League Manager 10K+ · 4.7★ (369) wp.org #12 ↑1 8 too low 5 User Submitted Posts – Enable Users to Submit Posts from the Front End 10K+ · 4.8★ (913) wp.org #17 12 too low 6 Multisite Language Switcher 3K+ · 4.8★ (99) wp.org #10 4 too low 7 SwiftXR (3D/AR/VR) Viewer 100+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #4 ↓1 3 too high 8 3D Viewer – Turn Product Pages into Interactive 3D Experiences 9K+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #7 1 too high 9 Element Pack Addons for Elementor – MCP & AI-Ready Elementor Widgets, Elementor Templates, Elementor Addons 100K+ · 4.7★ (284) wp.org #18 9 too low 10 Image Optimizer, Resizer and CDN – Sirv 900+ · 4.9★ (265) wp.org #20 10 too low 11 Currency Converter Widget 2K+ · 4.9★ (88) wp.org #16 5 too low 12 Ultimate Responsive Image Slider 30K+ · 4.5★ (248) wp.org #24 12 too low 13 WP Club Manager – WordPress Sports Club Plugin 600+ · 4.7★ (40) wp.org #15 2 too low 14 BSS 3D Product Viewer & AR for WooCommerce 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #3 ↑2 11 too high 15 Moyasar 1K+ · 4.0★ (7) wp.org #9 6 too high 16 Dark Reader – Beautiful Dark Mode for any Website 200+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #22 6 too low 17 Augmented Reality Viewer – 3D Model Viewer 400+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #6 11 too high 18 Verge3D Publishing and E-Commerce 400+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #13 ↑1 5 too high 19 3D Viewer – 3D Model Viewer – Augmented Reality – Virtual Try On 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #14 ↓3 5 too high 20 Live Copy Paste for Elementor – Cross Domain Copy Paste & Page Duplicator 6K+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #11 ↑1 9 too high 21 Photo Sphere Viewer – 360° Virtual Tour, Panorama, 360 Video & AR 3D Viewer 600+ · 3.5★ (2) wp.org #5 ↓1 16 too high 22 AR Button – AR Product Preview & Configurator — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 3 too high 23 ExploreXR 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 2 too high 24 The Word Widget 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 1 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.