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

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 “preloading”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20.

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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Image Preloading shows at wp.org #4 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 50+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.7★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Fonts Plugin | Google Fonts, Adobe Fonts & Upload Fonts places #7 on merit, 5.0★ from 1221 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 WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346) wp.org #1 2 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (518) wp.org #3 ↑2 1 too low 3 Breeze Cache 300K+ · 3.6★ (133) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too low 5 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 Flying Pages: Preload Pages for Faster Navigation & Improved User Experience 20K+ · 4.9★ (79) wp.org #6 ↓2 7 Fonts Plugin | Google Fonts, Adobe Fonts & Upload Fonts 200K+ · 5.0★ (1221) wp.org #12 5 too low 8 10Web Booster – Website speed optimization, Cache & Page Speed optimizer 60K+ · 4.6★ (405) wp.org #11 3 too low 9 Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #9 ↓1 10 Powered Cache – Caching and Optimization for WordPress – Easily Improve PageSpeed & Web Vitals Score 3K+ · 4.8★ (58) wp.org #10 11 Speculative Loading 70K+ · 5.0★ (18) wp.org #8 ↑1 3 too high 12 Custom Block Builder – Lazy Blocks 20K+ · 4.9★ (80) wp.org #16 4 too low 13 Loading Page with Loading Screen 10K+ · 4.6★ (124) wp.org #23 10 too low 14 WPSpeed – WordPress Speed, Cache & Performance Optimization (Core Web Vitals, PageSpeed 100) 2K+ · 4.9★ (40) wp.org #20 6 too low 15 RapidLoad AI – Optimize Web Vitals Automatically 600+ · 4.2★ (70) wp.org #19 4 too low 16 Easy Optimizer – PageSpeed, Cache & Core Web Vitals (Unused CSS, Delay JS, Lazy Load) 1K+ · 4.6★ (18) wp.org #13 3 too high 17 DietPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (38) wp.org #24 7 too low 18 Scrollsequence – Cinematic Scroll Image Animation Plugin 3K+ · 4.6★ (19) wp.org #18 19 Image Preloading 50+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #4 ↓1 15 too high 20 Oxyplug Preload 500+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #14 6 too high 21 LWS Optimize – All-in-One Speed Booster & Cache Tools 20K+ · 4.6★ (9) wp.org #17 4 too high 22 SpeedyCache – Cache, Optimization, Performance 500K+ · 4.4★ (30) wp.org #22 23 ezCache 10K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #15 8 too high 24 Super Preloader for Cloudflare 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #21 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.