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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “jquery modal”

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 “jquery modal”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 of the top 20. 4 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

Modal Popup Box — Popup Maker & Popup Builder shows at wp.org #7 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.5★ average from 10 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Ultimate Addons for Beaver Builder (UABB) places #8 on merit, 5.0★ from 332 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 Easy Modal 7K+ · 4.4★ (124) wp.org #1 2 Modal Window – create popup modal window 10K+ · 3.8★ (36) wp.org #2 3 Osom Modal Login 400+ · 5.0★ (15) wp.org #3 4 AJAX Login and Registration modal popup + inline form 3K+ · 4.7★ (120) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Lightbox & Modal Popup WordPress Plugin – FooBox 100K+ · 3.9★ (95) wp.org #5 6 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #10 4 too low 7 Firelight Lightbox 200K+ · 4.8★ (361) wp.org #12 5 too low 8 Ultimate Addons for Beaver Builder (UABB) 20K+ · 5.0★ (332) wp.org #16 8 too low 9 FooGallery Photo Gallery : Image, Video & Masonry Galleries 100K+ · 4.8★ (995) wp.org #17 8 too low 10 SearchWP Modal Search Form 5K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #4 6 too high 11 LightPress Lightbox 40K+ · 4.6★ (72) wp.org #8 3 too high 12 Nexter Blocks – Gutenberg Blocks, Page Builder & AI Website Builder 9K+ · 4.8★ (90) wp.org #19 7 too low 13 CMB2 300K+ · 5.0★ (91) wp.org #15 2 too low 14 Schema & Structured Data for WP & AMP 100K+ · 4.5★ (252) wp.org #20 6 too low 15 Divi Torque Lite 50K+ · 4.7★ (116) wp.org #18 3 too low 16 Mega Addons For WPBakery Page Builder 20K+ · 4.2★ (57) wp.org #21 5 too low 17 Modal Dialog 500+ · 4.4★ (16) wp.org #9 8 too high 18 Exit Popup 1K+ · 4.1★ (24) wp.org #11 7 too high 19 F Frizzly – Social Share Buttons 300+ · 4.2★ (20) wp.org #14 5 too high 20 Modal Popup Box — Popup Maker & Popup Builder 2K+ · 3.5★ (10) wp.org #7 13 too high 21 Popup Box – Easily Create WordPress Popups 6K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #22 1 too low 22 Gutena Tabs 6K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #23 1 too low 23 DesignSetGo 8K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #13 10 too high 24 Coming Soon Maintenance Mode 6K+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #24

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.