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

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 “cascade”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

Footprint – Find what slows your site shows at wp.org #6 but places #13 on merit, a gap of 7 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Meow Gallery 10K+ · 4.9★ (203) wp.org #1 2 wpDataTables – WordPress Data Table, Dynamic Tables & Table Charts Plugin 60K+ · 4.5★ (449) wp.org #4 ↓1 2 too low 3 Load Combined Core Block Assets 1K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Share Buttons & AI-powered Summaries 1K+ · 5.0★ (16) wp.org #9 ↓1 5 too low 5 Campi Moduli Italiani 400+ · 4.7★ (6) wp.org #3 ↑2 2 too high 6 Ultimate Watermark – Image Watermark, Image Protection & Bulk Watermarking 1K+ · 3.3★ (11) wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too low 7 Movie Engine – OTT Streaming Platform for Movies & TV Series 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #8 1 too low 8 bSlider – Build Sliders That Bring Your Content to Life 5K+ · 4.0★ (11) wp.org #11 ↓1 3 too low 9 Lynbro Cookie Consent 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #10 ↓1 1 too low 10 One-V LLM Serve 10+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #21 ↓3 11 too low 11 E Elmspur Cascade – Dropdown Redirect 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #5 ↓1 6 too high 12 Bulk Export Import Images SEO Attributes 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #12 13 Footprint – Find what slows your site 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 ↑1 7 too high 14 Groundworx Carousel 90+ · 4.0★ (2) wp.org #15 ↓3 1 too low 15 All in one Minifier 10+ · 3.8★ (4) wp.org #18 3 too low 16 FV Thoughtful Comments 70+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #17 ↓2 1 too low 17 Cascade Forge – No-Code Workflow Automation & Webhooks — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 ↓2 4 too high 18 Dynamic Fields Engine – Custom post types, Custom fields, Meta fields, Taxonomies, Listing builder, Query builder and Relations 3K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 4 too high 19 Sentio Widgets for Elementor 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↓3 20 Capo – Head Optimizer 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↓3 21 Block Class Manager – Global CSS Classes & Responsive Styles for Gutenberg 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 ↓3 5 too high 22 GW Elementor Addons 80+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 ↓3 23 W3S EU Withdrawal Request for WooCommerce 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 24 StoreBolt – Advanced Search for WooCommerce 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 ↓4

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.