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

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 “lightbox”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 3 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

MetaSlider Gallery – Image Gallery, Lightbox Galleries, Video Galleries shows at wp.org #11 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.4★ average from 9 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Modula Image Gallery – Photo Grid & Video Gallery places #12 on merit, 4.7★ from 616 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 Responsive Lightbox & Gallery 100K+ · 4.9★ (2003) wp.org #1 ↑3 2 Lightbox with PhotoSwipe 20K+ · 4.9★ (115) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 Firelight Lightbox 200K+ · 4.8★ (361) wp.org #3 ↑4 4 Meow Lightbox 10K+ · 4.9★ (190) wp.org #5 ↓3 1 too low 5 S Simple Lightbox 100K+ · 4.3★ (239) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too high 6 Lightbox for Gallery & Image Block 20K+ · 5.0★ (88) wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too low 7 Lightbox & Modal Popup WordPress Plugin – FooBox 100K+ · 3.9★ (95) wp.org #6 ↓3 1 too high 8 Gallery Lightbox 10K+ · 4.7★ (106) wp.org #9 ↑1 1 too low 9 WP Video Lightbox 30K+ · 4.3★ (67) wp.org #8 1 too high 10 Photonic Gallery & Lightbox for Flickr, SmugMug & Others 10K+ · 4.8★ (193) wp.org #13 ↑4 3 too low 11 Photo Gallery by Supsystic – Image Gallery, Masonry, Albums & Lightbox 20K+ · 4.6★ (498) wp.org #19 8 too low 12 Modula Image Gallery – Photo Grid & Video Gallery 100K+ · 4.7★ (616) wp.org #23 11 too low 13 Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4342) wp.org #20 ↑1 7 too low 14 LightPress Lightbox 40K+ · 4.6★ (72) wp.org #10 ↓1 4 too high 15 WP Lightbox 2 20K+ · 4.4★ (89) wp.org #16 ↓2 1 too low 16 Lightbox slider – Responsive Lightbox Gallery 3K+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #12 4 too high 17 Lightbox Images for Divi Enhanced 4K+ · 5.0★ (15) wp.org #15 2 too high 18 MetaSlider Gallery – Image Gallery, Lightbox Galleries, Video Galleries 10K+ · 4.4★ (9) wp.org #11 7 too high 19 Video Popup – Video Lightbox for YouTube, Vimeo & MP4 10K+ · 4.5★ (43) wp.org #24 5 too low 20 Ultimate Lightbox 1K+ · 4.1★ (19) wp.org #14 ↓1 6 too high 21 WF Magnific Lightbox 1K+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #18 ↑1 3 too high 22 Simple Lightbox for WordPress 400+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #22 ↓2 23 All In One Lightbox – show any media in beautiful popups 3K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #17 ↓1 6 too high 24 Video Popup Block – YouTube, Vimeo, TikTok Lightbox by WPZOOM 10K+ · 4.7★ (6) wp.org #21 ↑3 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.