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

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 “safari”, we agree with wp.org 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 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

Browser Theme Color – Address Bar Color & Dark Mode shows at wp.org #10 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 2K+ 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

Portfolio Filter Gallery – Photo Gallery places #6 on merit, 4.8★ from 348 reviews, but shows at wp.org #11. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Favicon by RealFaviconGenerator 200K+ · 4.9★ (802) wp.org #1 2 Popups for Divi 100K+ · 4.8★ (442) wp.org #5 ↑6 3 too low 3 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #3 4 WP Post Page Clone 70K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #2 2 too high 5 Speculative Loading 70K+ · 5.0★ (18) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Portfolio Filter Gallery – Photo Gallery 20K+ · 4.8★ (348) wp.org #11 ↓1 5 too low 7 View Transitions 10K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #7 8 OneSignal – Web Push Notifications 60K+ · 4.3★ (360) wp.org #13 ↑1 5 too low 9 Cimo – Free Instant Image Optimizer & WebP Converter 10K+ · 4.9★ (20) wp.org #12 ↓7 3 too low 10 Pdf Embed 10K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #6 4 too high 11 Button visually impaired 10K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #16 5 too low 12 Compact WP Audio Player 20K+ · 4.1★ (69) wp.org #15 3 too low 13 Visibility Logic for Elementor 20K+ · 4.8★ (58) wp.org #22 ↑1 9 too low 14 The Paste 9K+ · 4.8★ (35) wp.org #18 4 too low 15 Zotpress 2K+ · 4.9★ (66) wp.org #24 9 too low 16 Wonder Video Embed 4K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #8 8 too high 17 SendPulse Free Web Push 500+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #17 18 Responsive Slider Gallery – Responsive Image Photo Slider 2K+ · 4.5★ (13) wp.org #19 1 too low 19 Image Slider 4K+ · 3.4★ (31) wp.org #20 1 too low 20 Optimization Detective 60K+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #9 ↓1 11 too high 21 Mobile Smart App Banner 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #14 ↓1 7 too high 22 Browser Theme Color – Address Bar Color & Dark Mode 2K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 ↓1 12 too high 23 Subscribers – Free Web Push Notifications 1K+ · 2.9★ (8) wp.org #23 ↓1 24 Shortcodes and extra features for Phlox theme 80K+ · 2.1★ (7) wp.org #21 3 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.