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

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 shadow”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

Image Gallery Block – Showcase Photos in Stunning Responsive Grids shows at wp.org #10 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 2K+ 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

Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics places #11 on merit, 3.7★ from 2408 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. 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 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #2 3 Image Hover Effects Ultimate ( Image Gallery, Effects, Lightbox, Comparison & Magnifier ) 10K+ · 4.7★ (250) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 WP Image Zoom 10K+ · 4.3★ (119) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Flipbox – Awesomes Flip Boxes Image Overlay 9K+ · 4.7★ (149) wp.org #5 6 Smart Slider 3 800K+ · 4.9★ (1125) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #9 2 too low 8 Photo Gallery by Supsystic – Image Gallery, Masonry, Albums & Lightbox 20K+ · 4.6★ (498) wp.org #13 5 too low 9 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #12 3 too low 10 Image Aspect Ratio Crop Field for Advanced Custom Fields 20K+ · 4.8★ (26) wp.org #7 3 too high 11 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #20 9 too low 12 D Drop Shadow Boxes 3K+ · 5.0★ (77) wp.org #19 7 too low 13 Interactive Image Map Builder 1K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #11 2 too high 14 AI Product Gallery Slider, Additional Variation Images, Product Video, Product Image Zoom and Lightbox for WooCommerce – WPBean 1K+ · 4.3★ (27) wp.org #17 3 too low 15 Image Gallery Block 4K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #6 9 too high 16 Twenty20 Image Before-After 20K+ · 4.0★ (54) wp.org #24 8 too low 17 Vertical Image Slider – Responsive Thumbnail Slider with Lightbox 1K+ · 4.9★ (7) wp.org #15 2 too high 18 Real3D Flipbook – 3D Flipbook, PDF Flipbook, PDF Viewer, PDF Embedder 10K+ · 4.5★ (11) wp.org #21 3 too low 19 ImageLinks – Interactive Image Builder with Hotspots 1K+ · 3.9★ (9) wp.org #14 5 too high 20 Image Carousel Module for Divi 8K+ · 4.6★ (16) wp.org #22 2 too low 21 Vision – Interactive Image Map with Hotspots Builder 2K+ · 4.9★ (9) wp.org #23 2 too low 22 Image Ticker & Logo Slider – Continuous Auto-Scroll Carousel with Lightbox 1K+ · 3.6★ (9) wp.org #18 4 too high 23 Image Gallery Block – Showcase Photos in Stunning Responsive Grids 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #10 13 too high 24 Before After Image 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #16 8 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.