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

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 “orientation”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 2 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

Donation Thermometer shows at wp.org #5 but places #13 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.4★ average from 12 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Logo Carousel – Responsive Logo Slider, Logo Showcase, and Clients Logo Gallery places #4 on merit, 4.7★ from 162 reviews, but shows at wp.org #10. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Video Popup Block – YouTube, Vimeo, TikTok Lightbox by WPZOOM 10K+ · 4.7★ (6) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Instant Images – One-click Image Uploads from Unsplash, Openverse, Pixabay, Pexels, and Giphy 100K+ · 4.8★ (59) wp.org #6 ↑1 3 too low 4 Logo Carousel – Responsive Logo Slider, Logo Showcase, and Clients Logo Gallery 20K+ · 4.7★ (162) wp.org #10 6 too low 5 PWA for WP – Progressive Web Apps Made Simple 10K+ · 4.6★ (230) wp.org #11 ↓2 6 too low 6 Fluent PDF Generator 20K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #3 3 too high 7 GravityExport Lite for Gravity Forms 10K+ · 5.0★ (39) wp.org #9 ↑1 2 too low 8 Better Block Editor (BBE) 6K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #4 ↑1 4 too high 9 Twenty20 Image Before-After 20K+ · 4.0★ (54) wp.org #8 1 too high 10 Kraken.io Image Optimizer – Compress, Convert to WebP & AVIF, Resize & Bulk Optimize 10K+ · 4.5★ (119) wp.org #13 ↑2 3 too low 11 Product Customer List for WooCommerce 9K+ · 4.9★ (75) wp.org #12 ↓1 1 too low 12 Fix Image Rotation 4K+ · 4.4★ (27) wp.org #7 ↓1 5 too high 13 Donation Thermometer 2K+ · 4.4★ (12) wp.org #5 ↓1 8 too high 14 B Before After Image Comparison Slider for Elementor 10K+ · 4.4★ (96) wp.org #14 ↓1 15 Super Progressive Web Apps 40K+ · 4.6★ (225) wp.org #19 ↓1 4 too low 16 Accessibility Widget by OneTap – Easy One-Click Accessibility Toolbar 60K+ · 4.9★ (80) wp.org #18 ↓1 2 too low 17 Lightbox & Modal Popup WordPress Plugin – FooBox 100K+ · 3.9★ (95) wp.org #20 3 too low 18 Product Gallery Slider, Additional Variation Images, Product Video, Product Image Zoom and Lightbox for WooCommerce – Reno Product Gallery (formerly WooGallery) 20K+ · 4.9★ (162) wp.org #21 3 too low 19 RPB Chessboard 1K+ · 4.8★ (20) wp.org #17 ↓1 2 too high 20 Pagination Styler for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #16 ↓4 4 too high 21 Accordion Slider 2K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #15 ↓1 6 too high 22 exovia GDPR Google Maps 4K+ · 4.6★ (11) wp.org #23 ↓1 1 too low 23 Panorama – Turn Photos into Immersive Virtual Tours 2K+ · 4.3★ (9) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 Before After Image 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #22 ↓3 2 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.