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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “widgets css”

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 “widgets css”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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

Better Post & Filter Widgets for Elementor shows at wp.org #9 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 4K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 18 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #1 2 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 SiteOrigin Widgets Bundle 400K+ · 4.9★ (134) wp.org #3 4 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too low 5 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #4 ↓2 1 too high 6 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #7 ↑1 1 too low 7 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #8 ↓1 1 too low 8 Hummingbird Performance – Cache & Page Speed Optimization for Core Web Vitals | Critical CSS | Minify CSS | Defer CSS Javascript | CDN 70K+ · 4.7★ (1488) wp.org #10 ↓1 2 too low 9 CSS & JavaScript Toolbox 10K+ · 4.8★ (84) wp.org #6 ↓1 3 too high 10 TablePress – Tables in WordPress made easy 600K+ · 5.0★ (4625) wp.org #13 ↓1 3 too low 11 Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528) wp.org #11 12 Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails 100K+ · 4.8★ (215) wp.org #12 ↓2 13 Floating Chat Widget: Contact Chat Icons, Telegram Chat, Line Messenger, WeChat, Email, SMS, Call Button – Chaty 300K+ · 5.0★ (1244) wp.org #20 7 too low 14 Woody Code Snippets – Insert PHP, CSS, JS, and Header/Footer Scripts 50K+ · 4.5★ (221) wp.org #15 1 too low 15 Widget CSS Classes 80K+ · 4.9★ (74) wp.org #17 2 too low 16 WPCode – Insert Headers and Footers + Custom Code Snippets – WordPress Code Manager 3M+ · 4.9★ (1916) wp.org #24 ↓3 8 too low 17 Dashboard Widgets Suite 4K+ · 4.9★ (38) wp.org #14 3 too high 18 Better Post & Filter Widgets for Elementor 4K+ · 5.0★ (18) wp.org #9 ↓3 9 too high 19 Widget Context 30K+ · 4.5★ (98) wp.org #16 3 too high 20 C Clear Cache for Me 40K+ · 4.8★ (29) wp.org #19 1 too high 21 Events Widgets For Elementor And The Events Calendar 10K+ · 4.5★ (108) wp.org #21 ↓8 22 Ultimate Floating Widgets – Make popup sidebars 3K+ · 4.9★ (14) wp.org #22 23 Widgets for Google Reviews and Ratings 3K+ · 4.2★ (10) wp.org #18 5 too high 24 Advanced Custom CSS for Elementor 200+ · 4.5★ (2) 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.