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← Rankings

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

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

Disable Browser Telephone Format Detection shows at wp.org #8 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 300+ 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.

Buried gem

Translate WordPress with GTranslate places #11 on merit, 4.9★ from 4962 reviews, but shows at wp.org #15. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #3 2 too low 2 Product Feed Manager for WooCommerce – CTX Feed – Support 220+ Shopping, AI & Social Channels 90K+ · 4.6★ (838) wp.org #2 3 Modern Image Formats 100K+ · 3.6★ (26) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 Converter for Media – Optimize images | Convert WebP & AVIF 500K+ · 4.9★ (1106) wp.org #6 ↓2 2 too low 5 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #5 ↑3 6 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 Smush – Image Optimization, Compression, Lazy Load, WebP & CDN 1M+ · 4.8★ (6053) wp.org #10 ↑4 3 too low 8 SEO Media Manager 5K+ · 4.8★ (18) wp.org #4 4 too high 9 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #12 3 too low 10 Enable Media Replace 600K+ · 4.4★ (302) wp.org #9 ↓6 1 too high 11 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #15 ↓2 4 too low 12 Imagify Image Optimization: Optimize Images | Compress & Convert to WebP/AVIF 900K+ · 4.3★ (1656) wp.org #11 ↓4 1 too high 13 All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #14 ↑4 1 too low 14 Autoptimize 800K+ · 4.7★ (1428) wp.org #16 2 too low 15 Polylang 900K+ · 4.7★ (3003) wp.org #18 ↑2 3 too low 16 Use Any Font | Custom Font Uploader 200K+ · 4.7★ (1148) wp.org #20 ↑4 4 too low 17 PDF Invoices & Packing Slips for WooCommerce 300K+ · 5.0★ (1865) wp.org #19 ↑1 2 too low 18 CompressX — AVIF & WebP Converter, Media Replacement 40K+ · 5.0★ (197) wp.org #24 6 too low 19 Hostinger Tools 3M+ · 3.5★ (40) wp.org #23 ↓1 4 too low 20 Bulk Convert Post Format 70+ · 4.4★ (8) wp.org #22 ↓6 2 too low 21 Rich Text Formats 50+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #13 ↓3 8 too high 22 Disable Browser Telephone Format Detection 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 ↑1 14 too high 23 CookieAdmin – Cookie Consent Banner 400K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #21 2 too high 24 Pricing Table – Block – Show Product or Service Pricing in Table Format 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #17 ↓3 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.