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

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 permalink”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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 Media Permalink by Hardweb.it shows at wp.org #7 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 800+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.1★ average from 7 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Smart Slider 3 places #8 on merit, 4.9★ from 1125 reviews, but shows at wp.org #12. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Featured Image from URL (FIFU) 60K+ · 4.6★ (264) wp.org #1 2 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #2 3 Modula Image Gallery – Photo Grid & Video Gallery 100K+ · 4.7★ (616) wp.org #3 4 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #4 5 Perfect Images: Regenerate Thumbnails, Image Sizes, WebP & AVIF 60K+ · 4.8★ (279) wp.org #5 6 Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #9 2 too low 8 Smart Slider 3 800K+ · 4.9★ (1125) wp.org #12 4 too low 9 WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346) wp.org #11 2 too low 10 Disable Media Pages 10K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #6 4 too high 11 3D FlipBook – PDF Embedder, PDF Flipbook Viewer, Flipbook Image Gallery 70K+ · 4.8★ (182) wp.org #15 4 too low 12 GenerateBlocks 200K+ · 4.9★ (122) wp.org #13 1 too low 13 Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4342) wp.org #18 5 too low 14 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #24 10 too low 15 404 to 301 – Redirect Manager, 301 Redirection, 404 Error Logs & 404 Monitoring 100K+ · 4.7★ (321) wp.org #22 7 too low 16 NitroPack – Performance, Page Speed & Cache Plugin for Core Web Vitals, CDN & Image Optimization 80K+ · 4.3★ (311) wp.org #23 7 too low 17 Share This Image 1K+ · 4.1★ (22) wp.org #10 7 too high 18 Disable Media Permalink by Hardweb.it 800+ · 4.1★ (7) wp.org #7 11 too high 19 Royal MCP – Secure AI Connector for Claude, ChatGPT & any LLM via MCP 10K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #20 1 too low 20 AI 60K+ · 4.2★ (10) wp.org #21 1 too low 21 Featured Image Pro Post Grid 900+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #16 5 too high 22 Permalinks with ID for bbPress 100+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #17 5 too high 23 Image & Video XML Sitemap 300+ · 4.0★ (3) wp.org #14 9 too high 24 Clickable Featured Image 90+ · 3.5★ (2) wp.org #19 5 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.