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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “fancy box”

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 “fancy box”, we agree with wp.org 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

Fancy Post Grid – Ultimate Post Grid Builder shows at wp.org #3 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

PowerPack Addons for Elementor: Widgets, Form Styler and Templates places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 361 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #1 2 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #2 ↑2 3 Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205) wp.org #6 ↑3 3 too low 4 ARI Fancy Lightbox – Popup for WordPress 10K+ · 4.7★ (71) wp.org #4 ↓1 5 Theme Editor 50K+ · 4.6★ (128) wp.org #5 6 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too low 7 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #11 ↓1 4 too low 8 Divi Torque Lite 50K+ · 4.7★ (116) wp.org #10 ↑1 2 too low 9 Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528) wp.org #15 ↑3 6 too low 10 Simple Download Monitor 20K+ · 4.7★ (158) wp.org #12 ↑1 2 too low 11 PowerPack Lite for Beaver Builder 6K+ · 5.0★ (243) wp.org #16 ↓1 5 too low 12 PowerPack Addons for Elementor: Widgets, Form Styler and Templates 70K+ · 4.8★ (361) wp.org #21 ↓1 9 too low 13 Lightbox slider – Responsive Lightbox Gallery 3K+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #8 5 too high 14 Page Builder: Pagelayer – Drag and Drop website builder 400K+ · 3.9★ (104) wp.org #14 15 Addon Elements for Elementor (formerly Elementor Addon Elements) 80K+ · 4.8★ (172) wp.org #24 9 too low 16 GutenBee – Gutenberg Blocks 6K+ · 4.9★ (18) wp.org #13 ↓1 3 too high 17 Sina Extension for Elementor 40K+ · 4.9★ (35) wp.org #18 ↓1 1 too low 18 Exclusive Addons for Elementor 50K+ · 4.7★ (47) wp.org #20 ↓1 2 too low 19 Mega Addons For WPBakery Page Builder 20K+ · 4.2★ (57) wp.org #19 20 Fancy Post Grid – Ultimate Post Grid Builder 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #3 ↓1 17 too high 21 Fancy Elementor Flipbox 4K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #9 ↓2 12 too high 22 Responsive Addons for Elementor – Free Elementor Addons, Kits and Elementor Templates 3K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #22 ↓1 23 Contact Form 7 styler for Elementor Page Builder 800+ · 3.3★ (3) wp.org #23 24 Image Slider Slideshow 2K+ · 4.0★ (2) wp.org #17 ↓1 7 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.