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

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 “paint”, we agree with wp.org 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

Image Prioritizer shows at wp.org #7 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 40K+ 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

SlimStat Analytics – Real-Time Stats, Heatmaps & Ecommerce places #9 on merit, 4.8★ from 816 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #1 2 Jetpack Boost – Website Speed, Performance and Critical CSS 200K+ · 4.7★ (612) wp.org #2 3 WP Meteor Website Speed Optimization Addon 20K+ · 4.7★ (77) wp.org #3 4 LazyLoad Plugin – Lazy Load Images, Videos, and Iframes 100K+ · 4.2★ (139) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too low 5 Fonts Plugin | Google Fonts, Adobe Fonts & Upload Fonts 200K+ · 5.0★ (1221) wp.org #9 4 too low 6 Easy Optimizer – PageSpeed, Cache & Core Web Vitals (Unused CSS, Delay JS, Lazy Load) 1K+ · 4.6★ (18) wp.org #8 ↓1 2 too low 7 JCH Optimize 4K+ · 4.4★ (69) wp.org #12 5 too low 8 Lazy Load Control For Elementor – Remove the Lazy Load attribute from specific images in Elementor 3K+ · 4.9★ (15) wp.org #6 ↓1 2 too high 9 SlimStat Analytics – Real-Time Stats, Heatmaps & Ecommerce 70K+ · 4.8★ (816) wp.org #22 13 too low 10 BerqWP – All-In-One Optimization for Core Web Vitals, Cache, CDN, Images, CSS & JavaScript 4K+ · 4.3★ (54) wp.org #18 8 too low 11 Lazy Load for Comments 2K+ · 4.7★ (28) wp.org #16 5 too low 12 Insights from Google PageSpeed 10K+ · 4.8★ (28) wp.org #15 3 too low 13 Conversios – GA4, Google Ads & Meta Conversion Tracking with Product Feed for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.3★ (206) wp.org #21 8 too low 14 Preload LCP Image 3K+ · 4.8★ (5) wp.org #10 4 too high 15 Optimization Detective 60K+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #4 11 too high 16 Oxyplug Preload 500+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #14 2 too high 17 Speed Up – Optimize CSS Delivery 500+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #20 3 too low 18 Reduce Unused CSS Solution with Critical CSS For WP 1K+ · 3.8★ (13) wp.org #19 1 too low 19 Preload Featured Images 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #11 8 too high 20 Image Prioritizer 40K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 ↑1 13 too high 21 Browser Address Bar Color 300+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #23 ↓1 2 too low 22 Web Worker Offloading 10K+ · 3.5★ (2) wp.org #13 9 too high 23 AllTerrain Photo Editor – Crop, Resize, Paint & Photo Filters 10+ · 4.0★ (2) wp.org #17 6 too high 24 WoPo Paint 70+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 ↓1

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.