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

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 “shaders”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 4 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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.

Buried gem

Code Block Pro – Beautiful Syntax Highlighting places #4 on merit, 4.8★ from 50 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 AI-Powered Carousel, Slider, Video & Photo Gallery Blocks by WP Carousel 60K+ · 4.7★ (434) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 GutSlider – All in One Slider and Carousel Blocks for Gutenberg 6K+ · 4.9★ (14) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 AnimateGL – WebGL & CSS Scroll Animations and Hover Effects for Gutenberg and Elementor 2K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 Code Block Pro – Beautiful Syntax Highlighting 10K+ · 4.8★ (50) wp.org #20 16 too low 5 VX Framework 20+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #8 ↓2 3 too low 6 Shader Carousel 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too high 7 Shader Spiral Carousel — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #4 ↓1 3 too high 8 Shader Grid 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #6 ↓1 2 too high 9 CursorCraft – Cursor Builder for Elementor 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 ↑3 10 Addifect — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 3 too high 11 Animation Kit – Animated Backgrounds & WebGL Effects 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 ↓1 1 too high 12 Peekaboo Video Reveal — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 ↓3 1 too high 13 FWD Plasmic Audio Player — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↓2 1 too high 14 FWD Pop Audio Player — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 ↓2 1 too high 15 FWD Accordion Slider — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 1 too high 16 FWD Linear Slider — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 1 too high 17 Pushwoosh 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #24 7 too low 18 Pushwoosh for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↓3 2 too high 19 Three Importer — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 ↓1 2 too high 20 Izubizu Slider — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 ↓1 2 too high 21 Spellexo 3D & AR for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↓1 2 too high 22 D Design Cart Pajax GPL — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 23 Display WebGL Shader 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 2 too high 24 CubeLaunch 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 1 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.