Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “image cleanup”

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 “image cleanup”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 5 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 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

Cleanup Orphan Images shows at wp.org #14 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 100+ 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 ShortPixel Image Optimizer – Optimize Images, Convert WebP & AVIF 300K+ · 4.5★ (830) wp.org #1 2 Image Watermark 40K+ · 4.2★ (298) wp.org #2 3 Featured Image from URL (FIFU) 60K+ · 4.6★ (264) wp.org #3 4 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #4 ↑2 5 Asset CleanUp: Page Speed Booster 100K+ · 4.9★ (1564) wp.org #7 ↓2 2 too low 6 Image Hover Effects Ultimate ( Image Gallery, Effects, Lightbox, Comparison & Magnifier ) 10K+ · 4.7★ (250) wp.org #9 ↑1 3 too low 7 ThumbPress – Compress Images, Manage Thumbnails, Detect Image Issues, WebP/AVIF, Lazy Loading, Hotlinking & More 20K+ · 3.7★ (117) wp.org #5 ↓1 2 too high 8 Image Regenerate & Select Crop 7K+ · 4.7★ (58) wp.org #6 ↑1 2 too high 9 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #11 2 too low 10 FooGallery Photo Gallery : Image, Video & Masonry Galleries 100K+ · 4.8★ (995) wp.org #10 ↓2 11 Simple Image Sizes 60K+ · 4.6★ (91) wp.org #8 ↑1 3 too high 12 Perfect Images: Regenerate Thumbnails, Image Sizes, WebP & AVIF 60K+ · 4.8★ (279) wp.org #12 13 Image Widget 100K+ · 4.9★ (287) wp.org #13 14 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #15 ↑2 1 too low 15 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #19 ↑2 4 too low 16 Media Cleaner: Delete Unused Images & Clean Your Media Library 90K+ · 4.6★ (779) wp.org #24 8 too low 17 Inline Image Upload for BBPress 3K+ · 4.6★ (65) wp.org #17 ↑1 18 Image Source Control Lite – Show Image Credits and Captions 3K+ · 4.6★ (42) wp.org #16 2 too high 19 Featured Image Column 2K+ · 4.5★ (12) wp.org #18 ↑1 1 too high 20 Falcon – Cache, Performance, Security, Cleanup, and Tweaks 2K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #23 ↓1 3 too low 21 Cleanup Orphan Images 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #14 ↑1 7 too high 22 DevDome Media Cleaner: Remove Unused Images & Media Library Cleanup 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #21 ↑3 1 too high 23 Image Protection 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 3 too high 24 CodingBunny Image Optimizer 600+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 ↑1 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.