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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “blur image”

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 “blur image”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 16 of the top 20. 2 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

Image Protection shows at wp.org #5 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 200+ 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

Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates places #7 on merit, 4.9★ from 1680 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Maintenance 1M+ · 4.4★ (869) wp.org #1 ↑2 2 Image Hover Effects – Elementor Addon 40K+ · 4.9★ (83) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 Variation Swatches for WooCommerce – Color, Image & Size Swatches 200K+ · 4.6★ (51) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 Photo Gallery by 10Web – Mobile-Friendly Image Gallery 100K+ · 4.5★ (1581) wp.org #7 ↑2 3 too low 5 Sticky Header Effects for Elementor 300K+ · 4.5★ (69) wp.org #6 ↑1 1 too low 6 Ultimate Before After Image Slider & Gallery – BEAF 30K+ · 4.9★ (107) wp.org #9 ↓3 3 too low 7 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #18 ↓1 11 too low 8 Product Gallery Slider, Additional Variation Images, Product Video, Product Image Zoom and Lightbox for WooCommerce – Reno Product Gallery (formerly WooGallery) 20K+ · 4.9★ (162) wp.org #11 3 too low 9 Smart Slider 3 800K+ · 4.9★ (1125) wp.org #20 ↓2 11 too low 10 Image Optimizer, Resizer and CDN – Sirv 1K+ · 4.9★ (265) wp.org #14 ↓1 4 too low 11 Variation Swatches for WooCommerce 300K+ · 4.8★ (926) wp.org #16 ↑3 5 too low 12 HappyAddons for Elementor – 160 Elementor Widgets, GSAP Animations & Templates 400K+ · 4.8★ (489) wp.org #17 ↓2 5 too low 13 Logo or Image Replace by mycore.global 300+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #4 9 too high 14 Variation Swatches for WooCommerce 9K+ · 4.7★ (55) wp.org #22 8 too low 15 YITH WooCommerce Product Gallery & Image Zoom 10K+ · 3.6★ (71) wp.org #12 3 too high 16 Jeg Kit for Elementor – Powerful Addons for Elementor, Widgets & Templates for WordPress 300K+ · 3.8★ (79) wp.org #19 ↓3 3 too low 17 All In One Lightbox – show any media in beautiful popups 3K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #23 6 too low 18 WP Before After Image Slider – Interactive Image and Video Comparison Plugin for WordPress 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #10 8 too high 19 Image Protection 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #5 14 too high 20 AI Featured Image 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #13 7 too high 21 CodingBunny Image Optimizer 600+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 13 too high 22 Random Image Block for Block Editor 100+ · 3.8★ (4) wp.org #24 ↓1 2 too low 23 Selective Image Guard | A deterrent for unauthorized downloads and scraping 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 ↓1 8 too high 24 I Image Blur 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↓1 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.