wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “remove background”
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 “remove background”, 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 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 Background Remover shows at wp.org #3 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 19 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates places #11 on merit, 4.9★ from 1680 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
Enable Media Replace 600K+ · 4.4★ (302)
wp.org #1 2 
Full Screen Background 2K+ · 4.9★ (45)
wp.org #2 3 
Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517)
wp.org #6 ↑1 3 too low 4 
Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821)
wp.org #9 ↑2 5 too low 5 
WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617)
wp.org #7 ↑2 2 too low 6 
Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423)
wp.org #10 ↑2 4 too low 7 
Slider Hero with Video Background, Animation 3K+ · 4.8★ (34)
wp.org #5 ↑3 2 too high 8 
Super block slider – Image/video background & content slider 8K+ · 5.0★ (14) thin reviews
wp.org #4 ↑2 4 too high 9 
ShortPixel Image Optimizer – Optimize Images, Convert WebP & AVIF 300K+ · 4.5★ (830)
wp.org #12 ↓2 3 too low 10 
SVG Support 1M+ · 4.8★ (356)
wp.org #11 ↑8 1 too low 11 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680)
wp.org #19 ↑2 8 too low 12 
Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) heavy footprint
wp.org #13 ↑4 1 too low 13 
W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420)
wp.org #20 7 too low 14 
Smart Slider 3 800K+ · 4.9★ (1125)
wp.org #21 ↑2 7 too low 15 
Advanced Editor Tools 1M+ · 4.5★ (354)
wp.org #15 ↓10 16 
Autoptimize 800K+ · 4.7★ (1428)
wp.org #22 6 too low 17 
Disable Comments 1M+ · 4.7★ (281)
wp.org #17 18 
Really Simple CAPTCHA 300K+ · 4.2★ (131)
wp.org #18 ↓2 19 
Slugs Manager: Delete Old Permalinks from WordPress Database 3K+ · 4.2★ (13) thin reviews
wp.org #8 11 too high 20 
Options for Twenty Twenty-One 6K+ · 4.9★ (64)
wp.org #24 ↓4 4 too low 21 
Media Hygiene: Remove or Delete Unused Images and More! 4K+ · 4.2★ (41)
wp.org #16 ↓2 5 too high 22 Image Background Remover 300+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews
wp.org #3 ↑1 19 too high 23 
ShieldClimb – Remove Hentry and Hatom 60+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews
wp.org #14 ↓1 9 too high 24 
DevDome Media Cleaner: Remove Unused Images & Media Library Cleanup 500+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews
wp.org #23 1 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.