Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “ratio”, 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

SocialFeeds 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

DearFlip – PDF Flipbook, 3D Flipbook, PDF embed, PDF viewer places #11 on merit, 4.9★ from 194 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5040) wp.org #1 2 Image Aspect Ratio Crop Field for Advanced Custom Fields 20K+ · 4.8★ (26) wp.org #2 3 Easy Video Player 20K+ · 4.2★ (57) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 AnWP Post Grid and Post Carousel Slider for Elementor 20K+ · 4.9★ (84) wp.org #6 ↑3 2 too low 5 Responsive Gallery Grid 4K+ · 4.7★ (66) wp.org #5 6 Gallery by Visual Portfolio 50K+ · 4.8★ (340) wp.org #9 ↓1 3 too low 7 FooGallery Photo Gallery : Image, Video & Masonry Galleries 100K+ · 4.8★ (995) wp.org #12 ↓1 5 too low 8 Divi Carousel Lite – Make Carousels for Divi 5 30K+ · 4.8★ (146) wp.org #11 ↑2 3 too low 9 Cimo – Free Instant Image Optimizer & WebP Converter 10K+ · 4.9★ (20) wp.org #8 ↓1 1 too high 10 Logo Carousel – Responsive Logo Slider, Logo Showcase, and Clients Logo Gallery 20K+ · 4.7★ (162) wp.org #17 7 too low 11 DearFlip – PDF Flipbook, 3D Flipbook, PDF embed, PDF viewer 200K+ · 4.9★ (194) wp.org #20 ↓2 9 too low 12 BD Courier Order Ratio Checker 2K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #3 9 too high 13 Accessibility Tools & Alt Text Finder 3K+ · 4.9★ (69) wp.org #22 ↑1 9 too low 14 APCu Manager 10K+ · 4.6★ (20) wp.org #14 ↑2 15 Crop-Thumbnails 40K+ · 4.6★ (67) wp.org #24 ↓3 9 too low 16 Simple YouTube Responsive 3K+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #15 ↓1 1 too high 17 Zalomení 6K+ · 5.0★ (15) wp.org #19 ↑1 2 too low 18 SVG Flags – Country Flag Blocks and Galleries 2K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #10 8 too high 19 Piotnet Addons For Elementor 20K+ · 3.2★ (57) wp.org #23 ↓1 4 too low 20 SocialFeeds 40K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 ↓1 13 too high 21 FlippingBook 2K+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #18 ↓3 3 too high 22 WPZOOM Portfolio Lite – Filterable Portfolio Plugin 20K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #21 1 too high 23 Code and core – Smart Image Ratio 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 ↓1 10 too high 24 Ratio Thumbnails Size 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↑1 8 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.