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

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 “asset”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 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

Site Assets shows at wp.org #3 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 19 places. Its 300+ 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

WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 14387 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 Asset CleanUp: Page Speed Booster 100K+ · 4.9★ (1564) wp.org #1 2 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #2 3 Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #6 ↑3 3 too low 4 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #8 ↓1 4 too low 5 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #11 ↓1 6 too low 6 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #13 ↑2 7 too low 7 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #16 ↑2 9 too low 8 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #14 ↑2 6 too low 9 Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #9 ↓1 10 Assets manager, dequeue scripts, dequeue styles for WordPress 2K+ · 4.3★ (53) wp.org #7 ↓1 3 too high 11 Disable Comments 1M+ · 4.7★ (281) wp.org #12 1 too low 12 Download Manager 100K+ · 4.1★ (1006) wp.org #17 ↓4 5 too low 13 Free Assets Library – Openverse/Pixabay 600+ Million Images 4K+ · 4.4★ (11) wp.org #4 9 too high 14 Easy Digital Downloads – eCommerce Payments and Subscriptions made easy 40K+ · 4.7★ (591) wp.org #20 ↓1 6 too low 15 Load Combined Core Block Assets 1K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #5 10 too high 16 Ads.txt Manager 100K+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #10 ↑1 6 too high 17 Kirki – Freeform Page Builder, Website Builder & Customizer 500K+ · 4.5★ (81) wp.org #18 ↓4 1 too low 18 Colibri Page Builder 80K+ · 4.4★ (80) wp.org #22 ↓5 4 too low 19 Better Font Awesome 60K+ · 4.5★ (88) wp.org #23 ↓1 4 too low 20 MaxiBlocks Builder | 17,000+ Design Assets, Patterns, Icons & Starter Sites 600+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #15 ↓3 5 too high 21 M Mesmerize Companion 50K+ · 4.4★ (51) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 Site Assets 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #3 19 too high 23 Google for WooCommerce 800K+ · 2.7★ (268) wp.org #21 2 too high 24 Feather – Elementor Performance Optimizer | Asset Cleanup, Page Speed & Database Cleanup 90+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 ↑1 5 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.