wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “smooth loading”

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 “smooth loading”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 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

NS Smooth Scroll Back to Top shows at wp.org #4 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.7★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Booking for Appointments and Events Calendar – Amelia places #10 on merit, 4.6★ from 793 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 signals wp.org

Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #2 1 too low 2

WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4229) wp.org #3 1 too low 3

Comments – wpDiscuz 60K+ · 4.7★ (581) wp.org #6 3 too low 4

WPFront Scroll Top 200K+ · 4.9★ (142) wp.org #7 3 too low 5

Smooth Scrolling 900+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #1 4 too high 6

DearFlip – PDF Flipbook, 3D Flipbook, PDF embed, PDF viewer 200K+ · 4.9★ (194) wp.org #8 2 too low 7

Gutenberg Essential Blocks – Page Builder for Gutenberg Blocks & Patterns 100K+ · 4.9★ (216) wp.org #10 3 too low 8

Robo Gallery – Photo & Image Slider 40K+ · 4.3★ (406) wp.org #13 5 too low 9

Meow Gallery 10K+ · 4.9★ (203) wp.org #14 5 too low 10

Booking for Appointments and Events Calendar – Amelia 90K+ · 4.6★ (793) wp.org #18 8 too low 11

ThumbPress – Compress Images, Manage Thumbnails, Detect Image Issues, WebP/AVIF, Lazy Loading, Hotlinking & More 20K+ · 3.7★ (117) wp.org #9 2 too high 12

Safelayout Cute Preloader – CSS3 WordPress Preloader 10K+ · 5.0★ (84) wp.org #15 3 too low 13

Image Hover Effects Ultimate ( Image Gallery, Effects, Lightbox, Comparison & Magnifier ) 10K+ · 4.7★ (250) wp.org #23 10 too low 14

HappyAddons for Elementor – 160 Elementor Widgets, GSAP Animations & Templates 400K+ · 4.8★ (489) wp.org #24 10 too low 15

Accordions 20K+ · 4.5★ (90) wp.org #19 4 too low 16

Prime Slider – Hero Slider, Carousel, WooCommerce & Post Slider Elementor Addons 100K+ · 4.5★ (82) wp.org #20 4 too low 17

Advanced Marquee Effect for Elementor – Smooth Marquee, News Ticker, Image Box & Icon Box Marquee 2K+ · 4.7★ (6) thin reviews wp.org #5 12 too high 18

NS Smooth Scroll Back to Top 100+ · 4.7★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #4 14 too high 19

LoftLoader 70K+ · 4.5★ (33) wp.org #17 2 too high 20

Image Gallery 3K+ · 4.4★ (32) wp.org #21 1 too low 21

Marquee Addons for Elementor – Essential Motion Widgets & Templates 20K+ · 5.0★ (6) thin reviews wp.org #12 9 too high 22

AEH Speed Optimization: Browser Cache, Optimized Minify, Lazy Loading & Image Optimization 2K+ · 3.2★ (20) thin reviews wp.org #11 11 too high 23

B Laser Loader – Show Visitors Your Pages Are Loading in Style 90+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #16 7 too high 24

AJAX Loading 10+ · 3.0★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #22 2 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.