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

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 “lightning”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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

LNbits – Bitcoin Lightning and Onchain Payment Gateway shows at wp.org #6 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 20+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Envira Gallery – Image Photo Gallery, Albums, Video Gallery, Slideshows & More places #9 on merit, 4.7★ from 1596 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Backup Migration 80K+ · 4.9★ (1334) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4825) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2614) wp.org #3 4 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (515) wp.org #4 5 Starter Templates: AI-Powered Website Templates for Elementor & Gutenberg 1M+ · 4.9★ (4750) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (640) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 Feeds for YouTube (YouTube video, channel, and gallery plugin) 100K+ · 4.8★ (203) wp.org #7 8 Optimole – Optimize Images | Convert WebP & AVIF | CDN & Lazy Load | Image Optimization 200K+ · 4.7★ (640) wp.org #9 1 too low 9 Envira Gallery – Image Photo Gallery, Albums, Video Gallery, Slideshows & More 100K+ · 4.7★ (1596) wp.org #18 ↑1 9 too low 10 Simply Static – The Static Site Generator 30K+ · 4.5★ (194) wp.org #13 ↑2 3 too low 11 Smash Balloon Social Post Feed – Simple Social Feeds for WordPress 200K+ · 4.7★ (1509) wp.org #20 9 too low 12 SMTP2GO for WordPress – Email Made Easy 40K+ · 5.0★ (66) wp.org #12 ↓1 13 Smartsupp – live chat, AI shopping assistant and chatbots 20K+ · 4.7★ (131) wp.org #24 11 too low 14 BTCPay Server – Accept Bitcoin payments in WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (20) wp.org #10 ↑2 4 too high 15 LWS Optimize – All-in-One Speed Booster & Cache Tools 20K+ · 4.6★ (9) wp.org #11 ↓1 4 too high 16 Search with Typesense 700+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #14 ↓1 2 too high 17 FastDup – Fastest WordPress Migration & Duplicator 5K+ · 4.6★ (27) wp.org #19 ↓1 2 too low 18 WP Change Email Sender 10K+ · 4.9★ (9) wp.org #16 ↑1 2 too high 19 Jetpack VideoPress 7K+ · 4.0★ (16) wp.org #17 ↓3 2 too high 20 Tockify Events Calendar 2K+ · 4.5★ (19) wp.org #15 ↑1 5 too high 21 UiPress lite | Effortless custom dashboards, admin themes and pages 6K+ · 4.1★ (21) wp.org #23 ↑1 2 too low 22 LNbits – Bitcoin Lightning and Onchain Payment Gateway 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 16 too high 23 ezCache 10K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #22 ↑1 1 too high 24 eCommerce Companion 6K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↑1 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.