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

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 “sideways”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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.

Ranked above its merit

GlobeProof – 3D Customer & Review Globe for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #18 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 5 places. Its — 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 AnWP Post Grid and Post Carousel Slider for Elementor 20K+ · 4.9★ (84) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Real3D Flipbook – 3D Flipbook, PDF Flipbook, PDF Viewer, PDF Embedder 10K+ · 4.5★ (11) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Unlimited Elements for Elementor 300K+ · 4.8★ (525) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too low 4 HappyAddons for Elementor – 160 Elementor Widgets, GSAP Animations & Templates 400K+ · 4.8★ (489) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too low 5 Animation Addons – Elementor Addons, GSAP Animations, Elementor V4 Atomic Widgets & Elementor Templates 10K+ · 4.6★ (66) wp.org #8 ↓1 3 too low 6 AnimateGL – WebGL & CSS Scroll Animations and Hover Effects for Gutenberg and Elementor 2K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #6 ↓1 7 Parallax Section Block – Add Parallax Scrolling Effects to Sections 3K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #3 4 too high 8 Sky Addons for Elementor – 160+ Widgets, GSAP Animations, Templates & Theme Builder 2K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #9 ↓1 1 too low 9 TrustLens – Fraud Prevention & Chargeback Defense for WooCommerce 20+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #21 ↓1 12 too low 10 Arts Horizontal Scroll for Elementor 70+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 ↓1 3 too high 11 Bright Addons for Elementor 30+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 ↑1 4 too low 12 Image Ninja – Convert Images to WebP & AVIF on Upload 60+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 ↓1 2 too high 13 Titula 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #17 ↓2 4 too low 14 Lloyd Gallery – Photo Galleries 200+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↓1 15 Unlimited Elements Blocks Library 500+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 4 too high 16 Advanced Taxonomy Manager 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 ↓2 4 too high 17 BoardScribe – Accessible Board Meeting Agendas and Minutes 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 ↓1 4 too high 18 Tanupom In-Place Converter for WebP 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too low 19 N Nik Images Auto Convert 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↓1 1 too low 20 vTables – Data Table Builder for CSV, Excel & JSON 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 ↓2 4 too high 21 KineticHub Frontend Doctor — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 ↓1 1 too low 22 Tablefold — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 1 too low 23 GlobeProof – 3D Customer & Review Globe for WooCommerce — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 ↓1 5 too high 24 Gorres Scrollytelling — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24

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.