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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “quote carousel”

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 “quote carousel”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

Testimonial Carousel For Elementor shows at wp.org #5 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – Easy Social Feeds Plugin places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 4358 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #1 2 Logo Carousel – Responsive Logo Slider, Logo Showcase, and Clients Logo Gallery 20K+ · 4.7★ (162) wp.org #2 3 Unlimited Elements for Elementor 300K+ · 4.8★ (525) wp.org #3 4 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #4 5 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #7 ↓1 2 too low 6 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 Logo Slider – Logo Showcase, Logo Carousel, Logo Gallery and Client Logo Presentation 30K+ · 4.7★ (252) wp.org #9 ↓2 2 too low 8 FooGallery Photo Gallery : Image, Video & Masonry Galleries 100K+ · 4.8★ (995) wp.org #13 ↓3 5 too low 9 Product Carousel Slider & Grid Ultimate for WooCommerce 6K+ · 4.3★ (33) wp.org #6 3 too high 10 Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – Easy Social Feeds Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4358) wp.org #18 ↓4 8 too low 11 Qi Addons For Elementor 200K+ · 4.8★ (205) wp.org #15 ↓2 4 too low 12 Divi Torque Lite 50K+ · 4.7★ (116) wp.org #14 ↓2 2 too low 13 Slider by Soliloquy – Responsive Image Slider for WordPress 30K+ · 4.7★ (1025) wp.org #22 ↓2 9 too low 14 Prime Slider – Hero Slider, Carousel, WooCommerce & Post Slider Elementor Addons 100K+ · 4.5★ (82) wp.org #12 ↓1 2 too high 15 Gutentor – Gutenberg Blocks – Page Builder for Gutenberg Editor 30K+ · 4.6★ (90) wp.org #16 1 too low 16 Nexter Blocks – Gutenberg Blocks, Page Builder & AI Website Builder 9K+ · 4.8★ (90) wp.org #23 7 too low 17 Slider Block by Sliderberg – Slider & Carousel Plugin for Block Editor 2K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #10 ↓1 7 too high 18 Xpro Addons — 150+ Widgets for Elementor 40K+ · 4.4★ (28) wp.org #24 ↓3 6 too low 19 Wonder PDF Embed 8K+ · 4.5★ (13) wp.org #20 1 too low 20 Simple Logo Carousel 100+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #11 9 too high 21 Testimonial Carousel For Elementor 10K+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #5 16 too high 22 WPZOOM Addons for Elementor – Starter Templates & Widgets 20K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #19 ↓1 3 too high 23 NEO Bootstrap Carousel 30+ · 4.0★ (3) wp.org #17 6 too high 24 Unlimited Elements Blocks Library 500+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↓2 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.