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← Rankings

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

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 size”, 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

WP Upload Size shows at wp.org #7 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.5★ average from 8 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Sticky Menu & Sticky Header places #12 on merit, 4.7★ from 763 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 EasyMedia – Increase Media Upload File Size | Role-Based Upload Limit | Increase Execution Time 70K+ · 4.9★ (99) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too low 3 Simple Image Sizes 60K+ · 4.6★ (91) wp.org #5 ↓2 2 too low 4 Media Library File Size 6K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #1 3 too high 5 Product Size Charts Plugin for WooCommerce 9K+ · 4.3★ (39) wp.org #4 ↑2 1 too high 6 Big File Uploads – Increase Maximum File Upload Size 100K+ · 4.9★ (403) wp.org #10 4 too low 7 Perfect Images: Regenerate Thumbnails, Image Sizes, WebP & AVIF 60K+ · 4.8★ (279) wp.org #9 2 too low 8 Loading Page with Loading Screen 10K+ · 4.6★ (124) wp.org #8 9 Modula Image Gallery – Photo Grid & Video Gallery 100K+ · 4.7★ (616) wp.org #12 ↑1 3 too low 10 Disable Media Sizes 10K+ · 5.0★ (23) wp.org #6 ↓1 4 too high 11 Block Visibility — Conditional Visibility Control for the Block Editor 40K+ · 4.9★ (108) wp.org #11 12 Sticky Menu & Sticky Header 90K+ · 4.7★ (763) wp.org #18 ↓1 6 too low 13 All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #21 ↑3 8 too low 14 Smush – Image Optimization, Compression, Lazy Load, WebP & CDN 1M+ · 4.8★ (6053) wp.org #23 9 too low 15 Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – Easy Social Feeds Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4358) wp.org #24 ↓2 9 too low 16 Robo Gallery – Photo & Image Slider 40K+ · 4.3★ (406) wp.org #19 3 too low 17 GenerateBlocks 200K+ · 4.9★ (122) wp.org #17 ↑1 18 Screen Reader Accessibility – WCAG, Text-to-Speech & AI Accessibility Fixes 600+ · 4.8★ (31) wp.org #14 4 too high 19 WP Upload Size 2K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #7 12 too high 20 Better image sizes 2K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #13 ↓1 7 too high 21 Media Focus Point 6K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #22 ↓1 1 too low 22 Full Screen Galleries 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #15 7 too high 23 Media Size and Filter 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #16 7 too high 24 Simple Maintenance Mode White Screen 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 ↑3 4 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.