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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “sharing image”

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 “sharing image”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 of the top 20. 2 plugins are 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.

Ranked above its merit

Easy Image Collage shows at wp.org #13 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 3K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.7★ average from 22 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Envira Gallery – Image Photo Gallery, Albums, Video Gallery, Slideshows & More places #12 on merit, 4.7★ from 1597 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 Scriptless Social Sharing 10K+ · 5.0★ (70) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Slider, Gallery, and Carousel by MetaSlider – Image Slider, Video Slider 500K+ · 4.6★ (743) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Featured Image from URL (FIFU) 60K+ · 4.6★ (264) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Social Media Share Buttons & Social Sharing Icons 100K+ · 4.8★ (5333) wp.org #8 ↓4 4 too low 5 Robo Gallery – Photo & Image Slider 40K+ · 4.3★ (406) wp.org #5 ↓2 6 Sharing Image 600+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #1 5 too high 7 Social Sharing (by Danny) 2K+ · 5.0★ (68) wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too high 8 Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4342) wp.org #10 ↓2 2 too low 9 FooGallery Photo Gallery : Image, Video & Masonry Galleries 100K+ · 4.8★ (995) wp.org #11 ↓2 2 too low 10 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #9 ↓3 1 too high 11 ThumbPress – Compress Images, Manage Thumbnails, Detect Image Issues, WebP/AVIF, Lazy Loading, Hotlinking & More 20K+ · 3.7★ (117) wp.org #7 4 too high 12 Envira Gallery – Image Photo Gallery, Albums, Video Gallery, Slideshows & More 100K+ · 4.7★ (1597) wp.org #18 ↓8 6 too low 13 AddToAny Share Buttons 300K+ · 4.7★ (1114) wp.org #12 1 too high 14 Hubbub Lite – Fast, free social sharing and follow buttons 30K+ · 4.7★ (173) wp.org #16 ↓1 2 too low 15 Photo Gallery by 10Web – Mobile-Friendly Image Gallery 100K+ · 4.5★ (1581) wp.org #15 ↑5 16 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #24 8 too low 17 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #23 ↓4 6 too low 18 Simple Social Media Share Buttons – Social Sharing for Everyone 20K+ · 4.8★ (194) wp.org #14 ↓1 4 too high 19 Maintenance 1M+ · 4.4★ (869) wp.org #21 ↑1 2 too low 20 Easy Image Collage 3K+ · 4.7★ (22) wp.org #13 ↓2 7 too high 21 Lightbox & Modal Popup WordPress Plugin – FooBox 100K+ · 3.9★ (95) wp.org #19 ↓3 2 too high 22 Inline Image Upload for BBPress 3K+ · 4.6★ (65) wp.org #22 ↓4 23 Share This Image 1K+ · 4.1★ (22) wp.org #20 ↓3 3 too high 24 Image Gallery Block 4K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #17 ↓3 7 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.