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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “nextgen gallery”

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 “nextgen gallery”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 of the top 20. 6 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.

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Ranked above its merit

NextGEN Gallery Image Chooser shows at wp.org #11 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 200+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.7★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Slideshow Gallery LITE places #9 on merit, 4.6★ from 743 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4342) wp.org #1 2 Modula Image Gallery – Photo Grid & Video Gallery 100K+ · 4.7★ (616) wp.org #2 3 Envira Gallery – Image Photo Gallery, Albums, Video Gallery, Slideshows & More 100K+ · 4.7★ (1597) wp.org #3 4 FooGallery Photo Gallery : Image, Video & Masonry Galleries 100K+ · 4.8★ (995) wp.org #4 5 Slider, Gallery, and Carousel by MetaSlider – Image Slider, Video Slider 500K+ · 4.6★ (742) wp.org #5 6 Firelight Lightbox 200K+ · 4.8★ (361) wp.org #6 7 Smart Slider 3 800K+ · 4.9★ (1125) wp.org #7 ↑5 8 EWWW Image Optimizer 1M+ · 4.8★ (1842) wp.org #10 ↓3 2 too low 9 Slideshow Gallery LITE 5K+ · 4.6★ (743) wp.org #14 ↑1 5 too low 10 Photo Gallery – GT3 Image Gallery & Gutenberg Block Gallery 10K+ · 4.8★ (147) wp.org #9 ↓1 1 too high 11 Simple Social Media Share Buttons – Social Sharing for Everyone 20K+ · 4.8★ (194) wp.org #8 ↑2 3 too high 12 Gallery PhotoBlocks 3K+ · 5.0★ (76) wp.org #12 ↓1 13 ShortPixel Image Optimizer – Optimize Images, Convert WebP & AVIF 300K+ · 4.5★ (830) wp.org #18 ↑2 5 too low 14 Gmedia Photo Gallery 7K+ · 4.3★ (260) wp.org #13 ↑3 1 too high 15 Image Photo Gallery Final Tiles Grid 20K+ · 4.7★ (353) wp.org #16 ↓3 1 too low 16 C Clear Cache for Me 40K+ · 4.8★ (29) wp.org #21 ↑1 5 too low 17 MaxGalleria 1K+ · 4.4★ (65) wp.org #20 ↓2 3 too low 18 NGG Smart Image Search 400+ · 4.9★ (13) wp.org #17 1 too high 19 Geo2 Maps Add-on for NextGEN Gallery 70+ · 3.3★ (12) wp.org #15 ↓1 4 too high 20 N NextGEN Gallery Image Chooser 200+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #11 ↓2 9 too high 21 External files in Media Library 500+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #22 1 too low 22 FooGallery Migrate 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #24 ↓3 2 too low 23 Migrate away from NextGEN Gallery 200+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 4 too high 24 Wisp Gallery 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 1 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.