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

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 “dots”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

Timeline Block For Gutenberg shows at wp.org #6 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 9K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.4★ average from 11 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Modula Image Gallery – Photo Grid & Video Gallery places #11 on merit, 4.7★ from 616 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Smush – Image Optimization, Compression, Lazy Load, WebP & CDN 1M+ · 4.8★ (6053) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Product Attachment for WooCommerce 6K+ · 4.5★ (24) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Carousel Slider Block for Gutenberg 50K+ · 4.8★ (59) wp.org #3 4 Divi Carousel Lite – Make Carousels for Divi 5 30K+ · 4.8★ (146) wp.org #4 ↑1 5 WP Store Locator 40K+ · 4.8★ (312) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 Cool Timeline (Horizontal & Vertical Timeline) 20K+ · 4.7★ (333) wp.org #10 ↑1 4 too low 7 Real Testimonials – Testimonial Slider, Collect Customer Reviews and Video Testimonials 40K+ · 4.7★ (226) wp.org #11 ↓2 4 too low 8 Gutenslider — Slider Block for the Block Editor 10K+ · 4.0★ (65) wp.org #7 1 too high 9 Super block slider – Image/video background & content slider 8K+ · 5.0★ (14) wp.org #5 ↓1 4 too high 10 AnWP Post Grid and Post Carousel Slider for Elementor 20K+ · 4.9★ (84) wp.org #14 4 too low 11 Modula Image Gallery – Photo Grid & Video Gallery 100K+ · 4.7★ (616) wp.org #22 11 too low 12 TP Product Image Flipper for WooCommerce 9K+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #9 ↑1 3 too high 13 Product Slider, Product Grid, Product Masonry 9K+ · 4.3★ (86) wp.org #13 14 W WP-dTree 2K+ · 4.8★ (25) wp.org #12 2 too high 15 Call Now Button – The Free Click to Call Button for WordPress 200K+ · 4.8★ (102) wp.org #21 ↓1 6 too low 16 Timeline Block For Gutenberg 9K+ · 4.4★ (11) wp.org #6 10 too high 17 Product Size Charts Plugin for WooCommerce 9K+ · 4.3★ (39) wp.org #16 ↑5 1 too high 18 Shipping Method Display Style for WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.6★ (21) wp.org #17 1 too high 19 Splide Carousel Block 4K+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #15 ↓8 4 too high 20 Banner Management For WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.5★ (26) wp.org #19 ↓3 1 too high 21 SMNTCS Custom Logo Link 2K+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #23 ↓9 2 too low 22 Fraud Prevention For WooCommerce and EDD 4K+ · 3.7★ (23) wp.org #20 ↓3 2 too high 23 Minimum and Maximum Quantity for WooCommerce 3K+ · 4.0★ (16) wp.org #18 ↓3 5 too high 24 Conditional Payment Methods for WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #24 ↓5

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.