wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “wordpress social icons”
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 social icons”, we and wp.org disagree 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
Ocean Social Sharing shows at wp.org #17 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 60K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.5★ average from 11 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
Social Share Icons & Social Share Buttons places #4 on merit, 4.9★ from 1,911 reviews, but shows at wp.org #8. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
How this rank is calculated
Each plugin's merit score multiplies these inputs together: how recently it was updated, how current its "tested up to" WordPress version is, its install base (log scale, capped at 10 million), its support thread resolution rate, and a rating score. The rating score weights the star average by review volume against a sitewide prior, then scales it by the lower bound of the share of 4 and 5 star reviews. A plugin with 3.7 stars from tens of thousands of reviews can still outscore a 4.9 with a few dozen, because the small sample carries less certainty.
A health factor between 0.4 and 1.15 then adjusts that score for what wp.org's search can't see: PHP fatals or failed activations on a test install, PHP and WordPress compatibility, memory and page-speed footprint, suspicious review patterns, closure risk, and a large install base with very few reviews. Clean, adopted plugins earn a small lift.
A keyword ranking starts from wp.org's search order for the term, weighting each position by 1 divided by its place, then applies the merit correction and health factor above. Relevance to the keyword stays in the result, so the order can differ from the all-categories list on /best, which scores plugins with no search term.
Hover a row to see the main reason for its position.
Social Media Share Buttons & Social Sharing Icons 100K+ · 4.8★ (5,333)
wp.org #2 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 2 
Simple Social Icons 100K+ · 4.3★ (92)
wp.org #1 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 3 
Menu Icons by Themeisle – Add Icons to Navigation Menus 100K+ · 4.9★ (851)
wp.org #3 4 Social Share Icons & Social Share Buttons 10K+ · 4.9★ (1,911)
wp.org #8 wp.org ranks it 4 places below merit 5 
MonsterInsights – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Made Easy) 2M+ · 4.5★ (3,158)
wp.org #6 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 6 
Easy Social Icons 20K+ · 4.4★ (84)
wp.org #4 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 7 
WPZOOM Connect: Social Icons Widget & Block, Share Buttons & Click to Chat 90K+ · 4.9★ (144)
wp.org #7 8 
Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7,322)
wp.org #9 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 9 
Hustle – Email Marketing, Lead Generation, Optins, Popups 80K+ · 4.4★ (859)
wp.org #10 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 10 
Skyboot Custom Icons for Elementor – Elementor Icons library – 14300+ Icons 200K+ · 5.0★ (22) thin reviews
wp.org #5 wp.org ranks it 5 places above merit 11 
ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2,052)
wp.org #14 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 12 
Easy Social Feed – All In One Social Feed Plugin for WordPress 30K+ · 4.6★ (502)
wp.org #15 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 13 
Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – Easy Social Feeds Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4,359)
wp.org #18 wp.org ranks it 5 places below merit 14 
Scriptless Social Sharing 10K+ · 5.0★ (70)
wp.org #13 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 15 
Wp Social Login and Register Social Counter 70K+ · 4.6★ (67)
wp.org #11 wp.org ranks it 4 places above merit 16 
Fuse Social Icons 10K+ · 4.6★ (58)
wp.org #12 wp.org ranks it 4 places above merit 17 
Buttonizer – Social Media Share Buttons, Social Icons, & Social Feeds 40K+ · 4.8★ (396)
wp.org #23 wp.org ranks it 6 places below merit 18 
Hubbub Lite – Fast, free social sharing and follow buttons 30K+ · 4.7★ (173)
wp.org #19 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 19 
WP Social Ninja – Embed Social Feeds, User Reviews & Chat Widgets 30K+ · 4.8★ (71)
wp.org #16 wp.org ranks it 3 places above merit 20 
Simple Social Media Share Buttons – Social Sharing for Everyone 20K+ · 4.8★ (194)
wp.org #21 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 21 
Spotlight Social Photo Feed 50K+ · 4.7★ (171)
wp.org #24 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 22 
The Icon Block 40K+ · 5.0★ (29)
wp.org #20 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 23 
Jetpack Social 30K+ · 3.3★ (74)
wp.org #22 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 24 Ocean Social Sharing 60K+ · 4.5★ (11) thin reviews
wp.org #17 wp.org ranks it 7 places above merit Merit ranking caps the install boost at 10M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted 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.