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

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 dragging”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

CodingBunny Image Optimizer shows at wp.org #6 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 600+ 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

Autoptimize places #11 on merit, 4.7★ from 1428 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Modula Image Gallery – Photo Grid & Video Gallery 100K+ · 4.7★ (616) wp.org #1 2 Cimo – Free Instant Image Optimizer & WebP Converter 10K+ · 4.9★ (20) wp.org #2 3 No Right Click Images 20K+ · 4.7★ (52) wp.org #3 4 Product Gallery Slider, Additional Variation Images for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.6★ (160) wp.org #7 ↑3 3 too low 5 Image Hotspot – Map Image Annotation 3K+ · 4.9★ (22) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Post Types Order 600K+ · 4.5★ (296) wp.org #9 ↓2 3 too low 7 TP Product Image Flipper for WooCommerce 9K+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #5 2 too high 8 Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4342) wp.org #14 ↓2 6 too low 9 Real Media Library: Media Library Folder & File Manager 100K+ · 4.8★ (297) wp.org #16 7 too low 10 Additional Variation Images Gallery for WooCommerce 30K+ · 4.6★ (162) wp.org #11 ↓2 1 too low 11 Autoptimize 800K+ · 4.7★ (1428) wp.org #23 12 too low 12 Table Field Add-on for ACF and SCF 50K+ · 4.9★ (60) wp.org #17 5 too low 13 Gallery PhotoBlocks 3K+ · 5.0★ (76) wp.org #20 7 too low 14 Disable Right Click RB – Content Copy Protection, Prevent Copy & No Right Click 600+ · 4.2★ (14) wp.org #8 ↑7 6 too high 15 MetaSlider Gallery – Image Gallery, Lightbox Galleries, Video Galleries 10K+ · 4.4★ (9) wp.org #12 ↓1 3 too high 16 Responsive Slider Gallery – Responsive Image Photo Slider 2K+ · 4.5★ (13) wp.org #13 ↑1 3 too high 17 Divi Torque Lite 50K+ · 4.7★ (116) wp.org #24 7 too low 18 Protect Uploads 30K+ · 4.8★ (12) wp.org #18 19 Right Click Ban – Disable Right Click & Content Copy Protection 400+ · 4.3★ (7) wp.org #15 ↓2 4 too high 20 Simple Content Copy Protection & No Right Click 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #19 1 too high 21 CodingBunny Image Optimizer 600+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 15 too high 22 Branded Social Images – Open Graph Images with logo and extra text layer 800+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #22 23 Image Protection 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 ↓2 13 too high 24 Selective Image Guard | A deterrent for unauthorized downloads and scraping 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 3 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.