Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “whatever posts widget”

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 “whatever posts widget”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

Widget Visibility Control shows at wp.org #4 but places #14 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 200+ 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

Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – Easy Social Feeds Plugin places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 4358 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #1 2 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #2 3 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8709) wp.org #3 4 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #5 ↑3 1 too low 5 Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense 90K+ · 4.9★ (1463) wp.org #7 ↓1 2 too low 6 Custom Twitter Feeds – A Tweets Widget or X Feed Widget 100K+ · 4.8★ (401) wp.org #6 ↓1 7 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #8 ↓1 1 too low 8 Advanced Shipment Tracking for WooCommerce 70K+ · 4.5★ (355) wp.org #9 1 too low 9 WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346) wp.org #12 3 too low 10 Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – Easy Social Feeds Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4358) wp.org #18 8 too low 11 GeoDirectory – WP Business Directory Plugin and Classified Listings Directory 10K+ · 4.8★ (716) wp.org #19 8 too low 12 Location Weather – WordPress Weather Forecast, Air Quality & Weather Widget 10K+ · 4.5★ (103) wp.org #13 1 too low 13 Dashboard Widgets Suite 4K+ · 4.9★ (38) wp.org #10 ↑1 3 too high 14 Widget Visibility Control 200+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #4 10 too high 15 Business Directory Plugin – Easy Listing & Member Directories for WordPress 10K+ · 4.6★ (504) wp.org #21 6 too low 16 Stratum Widgets for Elementor 20K+ · 4.5★ (12) wp.org #11 ↓1 5 too high 17 Dashboard quick links widget 600+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #15 2 too high 18 No Gutenberg? – Choose Where to Use the Block Editor or the Classic Editor 9K+ · 5.0★ (16) wp.org #20 2 too low 19 Royal MCP – Secure AI Connector for Claude, ChatGPT & any LLM via MCP 10K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #16 3 too high 20 UiChemy – Convert Figma, Prompts and AI Builds to Elementor, Gutenberg and Bricks 8K+ · 5.0★ (15) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 Widget Menuizer 600+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #14 7 too high 22 Real Accessibility: Accessibility Widget & Toolbar 1K+ · 4.9★ (7) wp.org #22 23 WPS Child Theme Generator 6K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #23 24 Zenchef widget integration 2K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 7 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.