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

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 “illustrations”, 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

SVGator shows at wp.org #6 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 1K+ 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

Gift Cards (Gift Vouchers and Packages) (WooCommerce Supported) places #8 on merit, 4.7★ from 115 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 wp.org
1 Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528) wp.org #2 ↑3 1 too low 2 Pay with Vipps and MobilePay for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.8★ (13) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Easy Digital Downloads – eCommerce Payments and Subscriptions made easy 40K+ · 4.7★ (591) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too low 4 MapGeo – Interactive Geo Maps 30K+ · 4.4★ (65) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too high 5 Robin Image Optimizer – Unlimited Image Optimization, WebP & AVIF 100K+ · 4.4★ (131) wp.org #9 4 too low 6 Gutenberg Essential Blocks – Page Builder for Gutenberg Blocks & Patterns 100K+ · 4.9★ (216) wp.org #13 ↓1 7 too low 7 Optimus – WordPress Image Optimizer 30K+ · 4.2★ (69) wp.org #8 1 too low 8 Gift Cards (Gift Vouchers and Packages) (WooCommerce Supported) 1K+ · 4.7★ (115) wp.org #16 ↓3 8 too low 9 Share on Mastodon 1K+ · 4.8★ (10) wp.org #7 ↓1 2 too high 10 Axeptio – Cookie Banner – GDPR Consent & Compliance with a friendly touch 8K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #5 ↓1 5 too high 11 WordLift – AI powered SEO – Schema 300+ · 4.4★ (65) wp.org #19 ↓2 8 too low 12 Send Users Email – Email Subscribers, Email Marketing Newsletter 5K+ · 4.5★ (28) wp.org #14 2 too low 13 Dreamstime Stock Photos 200+ · 4.1★ (18) wp.org #11 ↓1 2 too high 14 Darkify – Dark Mode & Night Mode for Website & Admin (Dark Theme Included) 1K+ · 4.7★ (27) wp.org #22 8 too low 15 Super Advent Calendar 300+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #10 5 too high 16 SVGator 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #6 ↑1 10 too high 17 Embed Lottie Player – bring your pages to life with animation 4K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #15 2 too high 18 WP Popup 1K+ · 4.2★ (6) wp.org #20 ↓1 2 too low 19 Migrate away from FooGallery 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #18 1 too high 20 P Pixabay Media Downloader 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↓1 8 too high 21 Flexa Block – Blocks & Page Builder 1K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 22 ClickDesigns 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 ↓1 5 too high 23 SketchValley Illustrations — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↓1 24 A WP Life Companion 6K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 ↓1

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.