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

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 “beautify”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 of the top 20. 6 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

ScreenGlow Image Editor – Beautify, Mockup, Annotate, and Edit Images and Screenshots shows at wp.org #7 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 50+ 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

Crelly Slider places #8 on merit, 4.9★ from 112 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 CSS & JavaScript Toolbox 10K+ · 4.8★ (84) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 URL Shortify – Simple and Easy URL Shortener 10K+ · 4.7★ (169) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too low 3 Astra Widgets 200K+ · 3.9★ (17) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 LoginPress | wp-login Custom Login Page Customizer 200K+ · 4.8★ (1077) wp.org #6 ↑1 2 too low 5 HappyAddons for Elementor – 160 Elementor Widgets, GSAP Animations & Templates 400K+ · 4.8★ (489) wp.org #4 ↑2 1 too high 6 Minify HTML 10K+ · 4.7★ (33) wp.org #5 ↓2 1 too high 7 Search & Replace Everything – Quick and Easy Way to Find and Replace Text, Links 20K+ · 4.7★ (26) wp.org #9 2 too low 8 Crelly Slider 10K+ · 4.9★ (112) wp.org #17 ↓1 9 too low 9 Smart Grid-Layout Design for Contact Form 7 10K+ · 4.5★ (72) wp.org #8 1 too high 10 Album Gallery for Flickr 4K+ · 3.9★ (86) wp.org #11 1 too low 11 Beautiful taxonomy filters 2K+ · 4.9★ (68) wp.org #16 ↑1 5 too low 12 Superb Addons: Blocks, Patterns, Pre-built Pages, Sliders, Popups, Free Forms, Animations & More 80K+ · 4.9★ (23) wp.org #13 1 too low 13 Kubio AI Page Builder 80K+ · 4.4★ (79) wp.org #12 1 too high 14 Xpro Addons — 150+ Widgets for Elementor 40K+ · 4.4★ (28) wp.org #15 1 too low 15 Qubely – Advanced Gutenberg Blocks 7K+ · 4.0★ (66) wp.org #21 ↓1 6 too low 16 Educare – Students & Result Management System 600+ · 4.6★ (24) wp.org #19 3 too low 17 Blogsqode – Blog Layouts and News Post Design 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #10 7 too high 18 Unlimited Theme Addon For Elementor 600+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #14 4 too high 19 ScreenGlow Image Editor – Beautify, Mockup, Annotate, and Edit Images and Screenshots 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 ↓2 12 too high 20 LinksTrackly — · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #23 ↑1 3 too low 21 PostMeta Viewer – Custom Fields Inspector 80+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↑1 1 too high 22 Kayzart — AI Landing Page Builder with Real HTML 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 ↓1 2 too low 23 Fast HTML Minify 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 1 too high 24 Social Linkz – Lightweight and fast social media sharing plugin 90+ · 3.5★ (2) wp.org #18 6 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.