wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “fallback modal”

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 “fallback modal”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

Kansleri Cookie Consent shows at wp.org #12 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 7 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Perfect Images: Regenerate Thumbnails, Image Sizes, WebP & AVIF places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 279 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Super Web Share – Native Social Sharing Button 2K+ · 4.9★ (29) wp.org #1 2

Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) not PHP-current wp.org #2 3

Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense 90K+ · 4.9★ (1463) not PHP-current wp.org #4 1 too low 4

Otter Blocks – Gutenberg Blocks, Page Builder for Gutenberg Editor & FSE 300K+ · 4.7★ (251) heavy footprint wp.org #3 1 too high 5

FooGallery Photo Gallery : Image, Video & Masonry Galleries 100K+ · 4.8★ (995) not PHP-current wp.org #6 1 too low 6

Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528) wp.org #9 3 too low 7

OMGF | GDPR/DSGVO Compliant, Faster Google Fonts. Easy. 300K+ · 4.7★ (213) wp.org #8 1 too low 8

Post Duplicator 200K+ · 4.8★ (80) wp.org #7 1 too high 9

Hover Effects – easily create any hover effect 7K+ · 4.8★ (17) thin reviews wp.org #5 5 too high 11

Video Gallery – YouTube Playlist, Channel Gallery by YotuWP 10K+ · 4.7★ (322) wp.org #14 3 too low 12

Perfect Images: Regenerate Thumbnails, Image Sizes, WebP & AVIF 60K+ · 4.8★ (279) wp.org #16 4 too low 13

WP Video Lightbox 30K+ · 4.3★ (67) wp.org #10 3 too high 14

SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #23 9 too low 15

hCaptcha for WP 70K+ · 4.6★ (88) wp.org #15 16

Mega Addons For WPBakery Page Builder 20K+ · 4.2★ (57) wp.org #13 3 too high 17

Image Watermark 40K+ · 4.2★ (298) wp.org #20 3 too low 18

WP Recipe Maker 50K+ · 5.0★ (356) heavy footprint wp.org #24 6 too low 19

SimpLy Gallery 40K+ · 4.8★ (118) wp.org #21 2 too low 20

Sky Login Redirect 2K+ · 4.7★ (24) thin reviews wp.org #17 3 too high 21

SureCookie – GDPR Cookie Consent Banner, Cookie Scanner & Script Blocking 70K+ · 4.9★ (21) thin reviews wp.org #19 2 too high 22

Kansleri Cookie Consent 1K+ · 5.0★ (7) thin reviews wp.org #12 10 too high 23

Ajaxified Cart 300+ · 4.8★ (13) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #18 5 too high 24

Header Footer Builder for Elementor 30K+ · 5.0★ (5) thin reviews wp.org #22 2 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.