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← Rankings

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

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 “art”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 16 of the top 20. 5 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

Mawu Art – View in Your Space shows at wp.org #4 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 30+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Internal Link Juicer: SEO Auto Linker for WordPress places #8 on merit, 4.7★ from 537 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Art WooCommerce Order One Click 4K+ · 5.0★ (36) wp.org #1 2 WC – APG Weight Shipping 6K+ · 4.3★ (49) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Easy Digital Downloads – eCommerce Payments and Subscriptions made easy 40K+ · 4.7★ (591) wp.org #11 ↓1 8 too low 4 Responsive Lightbox & Gallery 100K+ · 4.9★ (2003) wp.org #16 12 too low 5 WC – APG NIF/CIF/NIE Field 10K+ · 4.8★ (23) wp.org #5 ↓1 6 EU Withdrawal and Legal Guarantee Compliance 1K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 FooGallery Photo Gallery : Image, Video & Masonry Galleries 100K+ · 4.8★ (995) wp.org #19 ↑1 12 too low 8 Internal Link Juicer: SEO Auto Linker for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (537) wp.org #23 15 too low 9 Perfect Images: Regenerate Thumbnails, Image Sizes, WebP & AVIF 60K+ · 4.8★ (279) wp.org #22 13 too low 10 Web-Art Login Shield with reCAPTCHA 100+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #7 3 too high 11 Jetpack Protect 100K+ · 4.6★ (123) wp.org #18 7 too low 12 Presswell Art Direction 80+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #2 10 too high 13 WC – APG SMS Notifications 300+ · 4.8★ (23) wp.org #9 4 too high 14 WC – APG Free Shipping 1K+ · 4.6★ (11) wp.org #6 8 too high 15 Seriously Simple Podcasting 20K+ · 4.7★ (330) wp.org #20 ↑1 5 too low 16 Mawu Art – View in Your Space 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #4 ↑1 12 too high 17 APG Google Video Sitemap Feed 500+ · 2.8★ (9) wp.org #13 ↑1 4 too high 18 APG Google Image Sitemap Feed 500+ · 3.6★ (5) wp.org #12 ↓1 6 too high 19 Werk aan de Muur 900+ · 4.5★ (6) wp.org #15 4 too high 20 Curator.io 2K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #24 ↓1 4 too low 21 Arts Horizontal Scroll for Elementor 70+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 ↑2 11 too high 22 Custom Base Terms 70+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 5 too high 23 Image Prioritizer 40K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 ↓1 9 too high 24 Commerce7 for WordPress 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 3 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.