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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “wp tabs”

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 “wp tabs”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 of the top 20. 3 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

Gutena Tabs shows at wp.org #9 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 6K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 7 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Widgets for Google Reviews places #11 on merit, 4.9★ from 2667 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More 4M+ · 4.8★ (5209) wp.org #1 2 WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470) wp.org #2 3 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #4 ↑3 1 too low 4 WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346) wp.org #3 ↑3 1 too high 5 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #5 6 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #6 ↓3 7 Custom Product Tabs for WooCommerce & WordPress Tabs Builder – Smart Tabs 10K+ · 4.9★ (134) wp.org #7 ↓5 8 WP Statistics – Simple, privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative 500K+ · 4.1★ (758) wp.org #8 ↑12 9 WP Store Locator 40K+ · 4.8★ (312) wp.org #10 ↓1 1 too low 10 WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click 100K+ · 4.8★ (1138) wp.org #13 3 too low 11 Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #16 5 too low 12 WP Mail Logging 300K+ · 4.7★ (375) wp.org #15 ↑3 3 too low 13 WP Crontrol 300K+ · 4.4★ (167) wp.org #12 1 too high 14 WP All Import – Drag & Drop Import for CSV, XML, Excel & Google Sheets 100K+ · 4.7★ (1966) wp.org #22 8 too low 15 Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) wp.org #18 3 too low 16 WP Job Manager 70K+ · 4.4★ (237) wp.org #21 ↓2 5 too low 17 Product Tabs for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.7★ (69) wp.org #11 ↓1 6 too high 18 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #19 ↑5 1 too low 19 WP-PostRatings 20K+ · 4.4★ (178) wp.org #23 ↓8 4 too low 20 Gutena Tabs 6K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #9 ↓1 11 too high 21 Index WP MySQL For Speed 50K+ · 4.8★ (99) wp.org #20 1 too high 22 Custom Product tabs for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.9★ (48) wp.org #17 ↓6 5 too high 23 WP Migrate Lite – Migration Made Easy 200K+ · 4.2★ (318) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 Easy Tabs Block – Smart, Lightweight & Responsive Tabs for the Block Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #14 10 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.