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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “loading time”

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 “loading time”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

Disable Lazy Load shows at wp.org #9 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 9K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.5★ average from 23 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Translate WordPress with GTranslate places #8 on merit, 4.9★ from 4962 reviews, but shows at wp.org #12. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Loading Page with Loading Screen 10K+ · 4.6★ (124) wp.org #1 2 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #2 3 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #7 3 too low 5 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5038) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Breeze Cache 300K+ · 3.6★ (133) wp.org #3 3 too high 7 Speculative Loading 70K+ · 5.0★ (18) wp.org #4 3 too high 8 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #12 4 too low 9 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #11 2 too low 10 Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #8 2 too high 11 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #13 2 too low 12 Modula Image Gallery – Photo Grid & Video Gallery 100K+ · 4.7★ (616) wp.org #15 3 too low 13 Embed Plus for YouTube Gallery, Livestream and Lazy Loading with Facades 100K+ · 4.6★ (572) wp.org #16 3 too low 14 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #21 7 too low 15 WP Time Slots Booking Form 1K+ · 5.0★ (41) wp.org #10 5 too high 16 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #23 7 too low 17 Disable Lazy Load 9K+ · 4.5★ (23) wp.org #9 8 too high 18 Delivery & Pickup Date Time for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.9★ (282) wp.org #17 1 too high 19 Ajaxify Comments – Ajax and Lazy Loading Comments 3K+ · 4.8★ (91) wp.org #19 20 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #20 21 LazyLoad Plugin – Lazy Load Images, Videos, and Iframes 100K+ · 4.2★ (139) wp.org #22 1 too low 22 Dynamic Time 200+ · 4.7★ (21) wp.org #14 8 too high 23 All in One Time Clock Lite – Tracking Employee Time Has Never Been Easier 500+ · 4.6★ (8) wp.org #18 5 too high 24 Aruba HiSpeed Cache 100K+ · 3.0★ (10) 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.