Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “wordpress feed excerpt”

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 “wordpress feed excerpt”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

Houzez Property Feed shows at wp.org #7 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.7★ average from 11 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads places #7 on merit, 4.9★ from 2433 reviews, but shows at wp.org #12. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 A Advanced Excerpt 80K+ · 4.3★ (101) wp.org #1 2 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #2 ↑2 3 RSS Aggregator by Feedzy – Feed to Post, Autoblogging, News & YouTube Video Feeds Aggregator 40K+ · 4.6★ (361) wp.org #3 4 WP RSS Aggregator – RSS Import, Feed to Post, Autoblogging, AI Content 40K+ · 4.5★ (565) wp.org #4 ↓2 5 Slider, Gallery, and Carousel by MetaSlider – Image Slider, Video Slider 500K+ · 4.6★ (742) wp.org #5 ↑1 6 Simple History – Track, Log, and Audit WordPress Changes 300K+ · 4.9★ (491) wp.org #6 ↓1 7 Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads 300K+ · 4.9★ (2433) wp.org #12 ↑3 5 too low 8 WPeMatico RSS Feed Fetcher 10K+ · 4.8★ (514) wp.org #8 9 Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807) wp.org #13 ↓2 4 too low 10 WP Ultimate CSV Importer – WordPress CSV, XML & Excel Import Export 20K+ · 4.4★ (593) wp.org #15 ↓1 5 too low 11 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #16 ↓3 5 too low 12 AWP Classifieds 3K+ · 4.6★ (301) wp.org #11 ↑1 1 too high 13 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #22 ↓3 9 too low 14 SEO Engine – Smart SEO with AI, Schema & Redirection for WordPress 1K+ · 4.9★ (48) wp.org #14 ↑2 15 Zen Feed 400+ · 5.0★ (18) wp.org #10 5 too high 16 Houzez Property Feed 1K+ · 4.7★ (11) wp.org #7 9 too high 17 HappyAddons for Elementor – 160 Elementor Widgets, GSAP Animations & Templates 400K+ · 4.8★ (489) wp.org #21 4 too low 18 A Add Featured Image to RSS Feed 2K+ · 4.3★ (12) wp.org #9 9 too high 19 Better Search – Relevant search results for WordPress 5K+ · 4.4★ (61) wp.org #20 1 too low 20 Sina Extension for Elementor 40K+ · 4.9★ (35) wp.org #23 ↓1 3 too low 21 Import WP – CSV & XML Import Export for WordPress 4K+ · 4.4★ (25) wp.org #19 ↓2 2 too high 22 AI 60K+ · 4.2★ (10) wp.org #18 4 too high 23 APG Google Video Sitemap Feed 500+ · 2.8★ (9) wp.org #17 ↑1 6 too high 24 Meow Workflow – AI Agents & No-Code Automation for WordPress 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #24

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.