Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “wide width align”

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 “wide width align”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 of the top 20. 2 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

Jamie's Visual HTML Editor shows at wp.org #7 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Smart Slider 3 places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 1125 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Options for Twenty Twenty-One 6K+ · 4.9★ (64) wp.org #1 2 Max Mega Menu 300K+ · 4.8★ (882) wp.org #2 3 Embed Plus for YouTube Gallery, Livestream and Lazy Loading with Facades 100K+ · 4.6★ (572) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too low 4 Twentig Supercharged Block Editor – Blocks, Patterns, Starter Sites, Portfolio 20K+ · 4.9★ (171) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too low 5 Widgets for Social Photo Feed 10K+ · 4.7★ (28) wp.org #3 2 too high 6 HTML5 Video Player – embed fast, responsive videos with ease 20K+ · 4.6★ (195) wp.org #8 ↑1 2 too low 7 Robo Gallery – Photo & Image Slider 40K+ · 4.3★ (406) wp.org #9 ↑1 2 too low 8 Depicter — Popup & Slider Builder 70K+ · 4.6★ (235) wp.org #6 ↑1 2 too high 9 Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528) wp.org #12 ↑1 3 too low 10 Smart Slider 3 800K+ · 4.9★ (1125) wp.org #14 ↑1 4 too low 11 Custom Product Tabs for WooCommerce & WordPress Tabs Builder – Smart Tabs 10K+ · 4.9★ (134) wp.org #15 ↓3 4 too low 12 Tableberg – Simple Gutenberg Table Block 4K+ · 4.8★ (46) wp.org #10 ↓2 2 too high 13 Social Feed Gallery 80K+ · 4.5★ (303) wp.org #18 5 too low 14 Wishlist for WooCommerce: Multiple Wishlists per Customer 2K+ · 4.9★ (53) wp.org #22 8 too low 15 Email Customizer for WooCommerce | Drag and Drop Email Templates Builder 9K+ · 4.3★ (44) wp.org #11 4 too high 16 Grids: Layout builder for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (21) wp.org #17 1 too low 17 Jamie's Visual HTML Editor 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #7 ↓1 10 too high 18 HT Slider For Elementor 20K+ · 3.8★ (12) wp.org #13 ↑1 5 too high 19 BlockArt Blocks – Gutenberg Blocks, Page Builder Blocks ,WordPress Block Plugin, Sections & Template Library 10K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #23 4 too low 20 TableKit – WordPress Table Builder for Data Tables, WooCommerce Product Tables & Post Tables 3K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #19 1 too high 21 Restaurant Food Menu by WP Darko – Drag & Drop Restaurant Menu Builder for WordPress 400+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 Widgets for Social Post Feed 600+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #20 2 too high 23 Amitry Product & Category Slider for WooCommerce 100+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #21 2 too high 24 Advance Custom HTML – Show Off Code Snippets with Live Preview 10K+ · 2.5★ (4) 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.