Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “rocket loader”

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 “rocket loader”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

Ajax loader + Cache shows at wp.org #2 but places #9 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 70+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Lightbox & Modal Popup WordPress Plugin – FooBox places #10 on merit, 3.9★ from 95 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 Maintenance 1M+ · 4.4★ (869) wp.org #3 ↓2 2 too low 2 OMGF | GDPR/DSGVO Compliant, Faster Google Fonts. Easy. 300K+ · 4.7★ (213) wp.org #4 ↓1 2 too low 3 Headers Security Advanced & HSTS WP 90K+ · 4.9★ (79) wp.org #5 ↓1 2 too low 4 Safelayout Cute Preloader – CSS3 WordPress Preloader 10K+ · 5.0★ (84) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Rocket Font – 한글 1K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #1 4 too high 6 FooGallery Photo Gallery : Image, Video & Masonry Galleries 100K+ · 4.8★ (995) wp.org #11 ↓2 5 too low 7 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #8 ↓3 1 too low 8 WP Meteor Website Speed Optimization Addon 20K+ · 4.7★ (77) wp.org #9 ↓1 1 too low 9 Ajax loader + Cache 70+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #2 7 too high 10 Lightbox & Modal Popup WordPress Plugin – FooBox 100K+ · 3.9★ (95) wp.org #16 6 too low 11 SuperFlare Cache – Cloudflare Cache & Auto-Purging 60+ · 4.4★ (9) wp.org #12 ↓1 1 too low 12 EasyFonts – Host Google Fonts Locally, Fast & Auto-Optimize, GDPR Compliant 1K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #15 ↓1 3 too low 13 Ultimate Cursor – Interactive and Animated Custom Cursor and Background Effects Toolkit 3K+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #7 6 too high 14 All In One Lightbox – show any media in beautiful popups 3K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #18 ↓1 4 too low 15 Hyper PWA – Bringing Modern Progressive Web App Experiences 400+ · 4.7★ (12) wp.org #23 ↓1 8 too low 16 PausAR – 3D and AR for Elementor 300+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #22 ↓2 6 too low 17 Lynbro Cookie Consent 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #10 7 too high 18 Orbo – Cookie Consent & Compliance Banner (GDPR, CCPA, PIPEDA) 40+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #13 ↓1 5 too high 19 KCSG Kartra Pages 400+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #21 ↓2 2 too low 20 The Bot Forge Chatbot 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too high 21 Rankology SEO and Analytics Tool 300+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↓1 7 too high 22 glomex oEmbed 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 ↓2 5 too high 23 ClickTrail – UTM, Click ID & Ad Tracking (with Consent) 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 ↑1 3 too high 24 LNDLE Speed – Page Cache, WebP, Lazy Load & Performance 10+ · 5.0★ (1) 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.