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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “justified”

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 “justified”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

Justify for Paragraph Block shows at wp.org #8 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 3K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Responsive Lightbox & Gallery places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 2003 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Justified Gallery 8K+ · 4.9★ (206) wp.org #1 2 FooGallery Photo Gallery : Image, Video & Masonry Galleries 100K+ · 4.8★ (995) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Media Cleaner: Delete Unused Images & Clean Your Media Library 90K+ · 4.6★ (779) wp.org #5 ↑3 2 too low 4 Gallery Block by Galleryberg: Lightbox with Tiles, Masonry, Square, & Justified Layouts 2K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #2 2 too high 5 YMC Filter 4K+ · 4.8★ (34) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Gallery PhotoBlocks 3K+ · 5.0★ (76) wp.org #6 7 Gallery by Visual Portfolio 60K+ · 4.8★ (340) wp.org #11 ↑1 4 too low 8 Responsive Gallery Grid 4K+ · 4.7★ (66) wp.org #7 1 too high 9 Responsive Lightbox & Gallery 100K+ · 4.9★ (2003) wp.org #17 ↓1 8 too low 10 Meow Gallery 10K+ · 4.9★ (203) wp.org #12 ↑1 2 too low 11 Image Photo Gallery Final Tiles Grid 20K+ · 4.7★ (353) wp.org #9 ↓4 2 too high 12 AI-Powered Carousel, Slider, Video & Photo Gallery Blocks by WP Carousel 60K+ · 4.7★ (434) wp.org #16 4 too low 13 Media Library Assistant 70K+ · 4.8★ (202) wp.org #18 ↑6 5 too low 14 Photonic Gallery & Lightbox for Flickr, SmugMug & Others 10K+ · 4.8★ (193) wp.org #21 7 too low 15 Custom Product Tabs for WooCommerce & WordPress Tabs Builder – Smart Tabs 10K+ · 4.9★ (134) wp.org #24 ↓7 9 too low 16 Photo Gallery – GT3 Image Gallery & Gutenberg Block Gallery 10K+ · 4.8★ (147) wp.org #23 7 too low 17 Powerkit – Supercharge your WordPress Site 10K+ · 4.5★ (14) wp.org #14 3 too high 18 GutenBee – Gutenberg Blocks 6K+ · 4.9★ (18) wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too low 19 ShutterPress Gallery – Masonry, justified and grid galleries, lightbox and infinite scroll 100+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #10 ↑1 9 too high 20 MetaSlider Gallery – Image Gallery, Lightbox Galleries, Video Galleries 10K+ · 4.4★ (9) wp.org #13 ↓3 7 too high 21 Filter Gallery 3K+ · 4.6★ (22) wp.org #22 ↓1 1 too low 22 Justify for Paragraph Block 3K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #8 ↑1 14 too high 23 Canvas 9K+ · 4.1★ (8) wp.org #20 3 too high 24 Easy Justified Gallery – Photo Gallery Block with Lightbox 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 9 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.