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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “book carousel”

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 “book carousel”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 of the top 20.

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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Classic Addons – WPBakery Page Builder shows at wp.org #12 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 3K+ 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

EmbedPress places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 307 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Books Gallery – Book Showcase, Library & Affiliate Plugin 2K+ · 4.8★ (92) wp.org #1 2 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #5 ↓1 3 too low 3 Logo Slider – Logo Showcase, Logo Carousel, Logo Gallery and Client Logo Presentation 30K+ · 4.7★ (252) wp.org #6 3 too low 4 RS WP Book Showcase – A Complete Book Catalogue & Library System 1K+ · 3.9★ (25) wp.org #2 2 too high 5 GS Books Showcase – Display Books in Grid, Slider & More | Library for WordPress 500+ · 4.8★ (42) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too high 6 Event Booking Manager for WooCommerce – Sell Tickets, Event Registration, RSVP & Event Calendar 7K+ · 4.5★ (167) wp.org #8 ↓1 2 too low 7 Mega Addons For WPBakery Page Builder 20K+ · 4.2★ (57) wp.org #7 8 Spotlight Social Photo Feed 50K+ · 4.7★ (171) wp.org #13 5 too low 9 Otter Blocks – Gutenberg Blocks, Page Builder for Gutenberg Editor & FSE 300K+ · 4.7★ (251) wp.org #14 ↓2 5 too low 10 Schema – All In One Schema Rich Snippets 30K+ · 4.0★ (162) wp.org #11 ↓1 1 too low 11 EmbedPress 100K+ · 4.8★ (307) wp.org #19 8 too low 12 Accessible Carousel & Slider – WCAG AA Compliant Slideshow 500+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #3 9 too high 13 Travelly – Tour & Travel Booking Manager for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.8★ (45) wp.org #22 ↑1 9 too low 14 Photo Gallery by Re Gallery: Responsive Image Gallery with AI SEO 700+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #17 3 too low 15 Logo Showcase with Logo Carousel, Logo Slider & Logo Grid 200+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #9 ↓1 6 too high 16 Solid Testimonials – Testimonial Slider, Video Testimonials & Customer Reviews 1K+ · 4.3★ (35) wp.org #21 ↓2 5 too low 17 GS WooCommerce Product Slider, Product Carousel, Grid, Ticker, List & Masonry 300+ · 4.0★ (8) wp.org #10 ↓1 7 too high 18 HT Slider For Elementor 20K+ · 3.8★ (12) wp.org #18 ↓4 19 Turbo Addons Elementor 3K+ · 4.8★ (5) wp.org #16 ↓3 3 too high 20 Happy Coders Multi Address for WooCommerce 80+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #23 ↓2 3 too low 21 Live Shopping & Shoppable Videos For WooCommerce 300+ · 4.6★ (9) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 Blockenberg — 645 Advanced Gutenberg Blocks, 683 Templates and AI Agent for WordPress Block Editor 1K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #15 7 too high 23 Classic Addons – WPBakery Page Builder 3K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 ↓1 11 too high 24 jAlbum Bridge 500+ · 4.0★ (3) wp.org #20 ↓4 4 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.