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

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 “screen”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 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

Full Screen Galleries shows at wp.org #7 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 100+ 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

UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin places #8 on merit, 4.8★ from 8706 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Loading Page with Loading Screen 10K+ · 4.6★ (124) wp.org #1 2

TablePress – Tables in WordPress made easy 600K+ · 5.0★ (4625) wp.org #3 ↑3 1 too low 3

Full Screen Background 2K+ · 4.9★ (45) wp.org #2 1 too high 4

Classic Editor 8M+ · 4.9★ (1251) wp.org #6 ↓1 2 too low 5

Screen Reader Accessibility – WCAG, Text-to-Speech & AI Accessibility Fixes 600+ · 4.8★ (31) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too high 6

Disable Gutenberg 500K+ · 5.0★ (735) wp.org #11 ↓1 5 too low 7

Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) heavy footprint wp.org #10 ↑1 3 too low 8

UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #17 ↓1 9 too low 9

Sticky Menu & Sticky Header 90K+ · 4.7★ (763) wp.org #16 ↓2 7 too low 10

Add to Home Screen & Progressive Web App 1K+ · 3.7★ (25) wp.org #5 ↓1 5 too high 11

Safelayout Cute Preloader – CSS3 WordPress Preloader 10K+ · 5.0★ (84) wp.org #15 ↑2 4 too low 12

Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) heavy footprint wp.org #14 2 too low 13

Media Library Assistant 70K+ · 4.8★ (202) wp.org #18 5 too low 14

Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense 90K+ · 4.9★ (1463) not PHP-current wp.org #22 8 too low 15

Maintenance 1M+ · 4.4★ (869) wp.org #20 5 too low 16 C Classic Widgets 2M+ · 4.9★ (272) wp.org #19 ↓1 3 too low 17

The SEO Framework – Fast, Automated, Effortless. 200K+ · 4.9★ (380) not PHP-current wp.org #23 6 too low 18

SVG Support 1M+ · 4.8★ (356) wp.org #24 6 too low 19

Screen Stay Awake 60+ · 5.0★ (6) thin reviews wp.org #8 11 too high 20

Full Screen Galleries 100+ · 5.0★ (4) thin reviews wp.org #7 13 too high 21

Simple Maintenance Mode White Screen 100+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #9 13 too high 23

N360 | Splash Screen 500+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #13 ↓1 10 too high 24

Screen Sharing System 10+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #21 ↑2 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.