Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “retina”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 of the top 20. 2 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

WooCommerce Square shows at wp.org #10 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 80K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 2.1★ average from 121 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Social Media Feather places #12 on merit, 4.6★ from 506 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Perfect Images: Regenerate Thumbnails, Image Sizes, WebP & AVIF 60K+ · 4.8★ (279) wp.org #1 2 Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 Max Mega Menu 300K+ · 4.8★ (882) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 EWWW Image Optimizer 1M+ · 4.8★ (1842) wp.org #4 ↓2 5 Meow Gallery 10K+ · 4.9★ (203) wp.org #5 6 Media Cleaner: Delete Unused Images & Clean Your Media Library 90K+ · 4.6★ (779) wp.org #6 ↑2 7 Media File Renamer: Rename Images & Files for SEO (AI-Powered) 40K+ · 4.6★ (447) wp.org #7 ↑9 8 Favicon by RealFaviconGenerator 200K+ · 4.9★ (802) wp.org #9 ↓3 1 too low 9 AddToAny Share Buttons 300K+ · 4.7★ (1114) wp.org #8 ↑1 1 too high 10 ShortPixel Image Optimizer – Optimize Images, Convert WebP & AVIF 300K+ · 4.5★ (830) wp.org #12 ↓1 2 too low 11 Robo Gallery – Photo & Image Slider 40K+ · 4.3★ (406) wp.org #13 ↑4 2 too low 12 Social Media Feather 10K+ · 4.6★ (506) wp.org #16 ↓2 4 too low 13 WP Go Maps – Google Map, OpenStreetMap, Leaflet Map 300K+ · 4.8★ (3055) wp.org #18 ↓8 5 too low 14 Optimole – Optimize Images | Convert WebP & AVIF | CDN & Lazy Load | Image Optimization 200K+ · 4.7★ (640) wp.org #20 ↓1 6 too low 15 Ajax Search Lite – Live Search & Filter 70K+ · 4.8★ (266) wp.org #19 ↑1 4 too low 16 Sticky Header Effects for Elementor 300K+ · 4.5★ (69) wp.org #14 ↓2 2 too high 17 Media Sync 50K+ · 4.7★ (86) wp.org #17 ↓2 18 LoftLoader 70K+ · 4.5★ (33) wp.org #21 3 too low 19 TinyPNG Image Optimization – Image Compression JPEG & PNG | Convert to WebP & AVIF 100K+ · 4.5★ (181) wp.org #23 4 too low 20 Powerkit – Supercharge your WordPress Site 10K+ · 4.5★ (14) wp.org #15 ↓2 5 too high 21 Better image sizes 2K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #11 ↑11 10 too high 22 WooCommerce Square 80K+ · 2.1★ (121) wp.org #10 ↓3 12 too high 23 Accordion Slider 2K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #22 ↑1 1 too high 24 Video Popup – Youtube, Vimeo, Gutenberg, Shortcode, Elementor 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #24

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.