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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “caption hover”

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 “caption hover”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

Image Hover Effects For WPBakery Page Builder shows at wp.org #11 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 3K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 14 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 2051 reviews, but shows at wp.org #13. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Image Hover Effects Ultimate ( Image Gallery, Effects, Lightbox, Comparison & Magnifier ) 10K+ · 4.7★ (250) wp.org #1 2 FooGallery Photo Gallery : Image, Video & Masonry Galleries 100K+ · 4.8★ (995) wp.org #2 3 Modula Image Gallery – Photo Grid & Video Gallery 100K+ · 4.7★ (616) wp.org #3 4 Photo Gallery by Supsystic – Image Gallery, Masonry, Albums & Lightbox 20K+ · 4.6★ (498) wp.org #4 5 Unlimited Elements for Elementor 300K+ · 4.8★ (525) wp.org #5 ↑1 6 Robo Gallery – Photo & Image Slider 40K+ · 4.3★ (406) wp.org #7 ↑1 1 too low 7 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #6 ↑3 1 too high 8 Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4342) wp.org #9 ↓2 1 too low 9 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #13 ↑1 4 too low 10 Image Photo Gallery Final Tiles Grid 20K+ · 4.7★ (353) wp.org #8 ↓3 2 too high 11 Gallery by Visual Portfolio 50K+ · 4.8★ (340) wp.org #14 ↓1 3 too low 12 AI-Powered Carousel, Slider, Video & Photo Gallery Blocks by WP Carousel 60K+ · 4.7★ (434) wp.org #15 3 too low 13 Gallery PhotoBlocks 3K+ · 5.0★ (76) wp.org #12 1 too high 14 Portfolio Filter Gallery – Photo Gallery 20K+ · 4.8★ (348) wp.org #19 ↓2 5 too low 15 SiteOrigin Widgets Bundle 400K+ · 4.9★ (134) wp.org #17 ↓1 2 too low 16 Logo Carousel – Responsive Logo Slider, Logo Showcase, and Clients Logo Gallery 20K+ · 4.7★ (162) wp.org #20 ↓1 4 too low 17 Image Hover Effects – WordPress Plugin 3K+ · 4.4★ (42) wp.org #10 7 too high 18 Ultimate Post Kit – Elementor Post Grid, Post Carousel, Post Slider & Blog Layout Widgets 30K+ · 4.8★ (58) wp.org #23 ↓1 5 too low 19 Image Hover Effects For WPBakery Page Builder 3K+ · 4.3★ (14) wp.org #11 8 too high 20 Photo Gallery by Re Gallery: Responsive Image Gallery with AI SEO 700+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 Gallery Block by Galleryberg: Lightbox with Tiles, Masonry, Square, & Justified Layouts 2K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #16 ↓1 5 too high 22 Carousel Block – Showcase Images in Elegant Sliding Displays 7K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #21 ↓1 1 too high 23 Embed Lottie Player – bring your pages to life with animation 4K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #22 ↓1 1 too high 24 SocialFeeds 40K+ · 5.0★ (1) 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.