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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “responsive pages”

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 “responsive pages”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 4 of the top 20. 3 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

Responsive Owl Carousel for Elementor shows at wp.org #10 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 7K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode places #11 on merit, 4.9★ from 4699 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. 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★ (7323) wp.org #1 2 Responsive Lightbox & Gallery 100K+ · 4.9★ (2003) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 Page Builder by SiteOrigin 400K+ · 4.8★ (1005) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 WP Responsive Menu 30K+ · 4.3★ (100) wp.org #4 ↑1 5 Responsive Menu – Mobile Menu & Hamburger Menu Builder 70K+ · 4.5★ (574) wp.org #7 ↓3 2 too low 6 Ultimate Responsive Image Slider 30K+ · 4.5★ (248) wp.org #6 ↑1 7 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #5 ↑3 2 too high 8 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #14 ↓2 6 too low 9 Responsive Gallery Grid 4K+ · 4.7★ (66) wp.org #8 ↑6 1 too high 10 Make Tables Responsive 6K+ · 5.0★ (34) wp.org #9 ↓3 1 too high 11 Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4699) wp.org #24 13 too low 12 Advanced Responsive Video Embedder for Rumble, Odysee, YouTube, Vimeo, Kick … 20K+ · 4.2★ (169) wp.org #13 1 too low 13 CC Child Pages 9K+ · 4.9★ (49) wp.org #11 ↓1 2 too high 14 Landing Page Builder – Coming Soon page, Maintenance Mode, Lead Page, WordPress Landing Pages 8K+ · 4.6★ (202) wp.org #21 ↑1 7 too low 15 Responsive Mortgage Calculator 7K+ · 4.4★ (21) wp.org #12 ↓3 3 too high 16 Responsive Blocks – Page Builder for Blocks & Patterns 3K+ · 4.8★ (17) wp.org #16 17 Responsive Slider Gallery – Responsive Image Photo Slider 2K+ · 4.5★ (13) wp.org #15 2 too high 18 Responsive Tabs 4K+ · 4.2★ (41) wp.org #23 ↓3 5 too low 19 Responsive Slideshow – Photo Carousel 2K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #17 2 too high 20 Responsive Starter Templates – Elementor Templates & Starter Sites 10K+ · 4.5★ (39) wp.org #19 1 too high 21 Photospace Responsive Gallery 800+ · 4.7★ (11) wp.org #20 1 too high 22 Block Responsive – Make Editor Blocks Responsive Easily 800+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #18 4 too high 23 Responsive Owl Carousel for Elementor 7K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #10 ↑1 13 too high 24 Responsive Tabs For Elementor 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 ↑1 2 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.