wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “fade out”

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 “fade out”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

Secondary Product Image for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #7 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.5★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Popup Maker – Boost Sales, Conversions, Optins, Subscribers with the Ultimate WP Popup Builder places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 4514 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 signals wp.org

Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) heavy footprint wp.org #1 2

Max Mega Menu 300K+ · 4.8★ (882) wp.org #2 3

WP Image Zoom 10K+ · 4.3★ (119) wp.org #3 4

Image Hover Effects – Elementor Addon 40K+ · 4.9★ (83) wp.org #5 1 too low 5

Smart Slider 3 800K+ · 4.9★ (1125) wp.org #8 ↑1 3 too low 6

Timed Content 5K+ · 4.6★ (41) wp.org #4 2 too high 7

Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads 300K+ · 4.9★ (2433) wp.org #13 ↑5 6 too low 8

upPrev 1K+ · 4.6★ (126) wp.org #10 ↓3 2 too low 9

Popup Maker – Boost Sales, Conversions, Optins, Subscribers with the Ultimate WP Popup Builder 600K+ · 4.9★ (4514) wp.org #19 ↓4 10 too low 10

Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) not PHP-current wp.org #15 ↓1 4 too low 12

Scrollsequence – Cinematic Scroll Image Animation Plugin 3K+ · 4.6★ (19) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #6 6 too high 13

AnimateGL – WebGL & CSS Scroll Animations and Hover Effects for Gutenberg and Elementor 2K+ · 5.0★ (22) thin reviews wp.org #12 ↓2 1 too high 14

Gutenslider — Slider Block for the Block Editor 10K+ · 4.0★ (65) wp.org #23 9 too low 15

Product Carousel Slider & Grid Ultimate for WooCommerce 6K+ · 4.3★ (33) wp.org #22 7 too low 16

Overlay Image Divi Module 2K+ · 5.0★ (17) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #20 4 too low 17

T4B News Ticker – Responsive News Scroller, Slider, and Animations 7K+ · 4.5★ (16) thin reviews wp.org #24 ↓3 7 too low 18

Advanced Popups 60K+ · 4.0★ (9) thin reviews wp.org #18 ↓1 19

Text Typing – grab attention with animated typing headlines 3K+ · 3.8★ (6) thin reviews wp.org #11 ↑1 8 too high 20

DWL Preloader 300+ · 5.0★ (4) thin reviews wp.org #16 ↑3 4 too high 21

Image Ticker Carousel | by Creavi 500+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #21 ↑2 22

Collapse Magic 1K+ · 3.7★ (6) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #17 ↓1 5 too high 23

Secondary Product Image for WooCommerce 2K+ · 3.5★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #7 ↑1 16 too high 24

AboveWP Page Loader 100+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #14 ↓1 10 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.