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

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 “smush”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 3 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

Disable Bulk Smush Limit of Smush Image Optimization shows at wp.org #4 but places #14 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 3K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.5★ average from 15 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Maps Widget for Google Maps places #8 on merit, 4.6★ from 512 reviews, but shows at wp.org #13. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Smush – Image Optimization, Compression, Lazy Load, WebP & CDN 1M+ · 4.8★ (6053) wp.org #1 2 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #2 3 Hummingbird Performance – Cache & Page Speed Optimization for Core Web Vitals | Critical CSS | Minify CSS | Defer CSS Javascript | CDN 70K+ · 4.7★ (1488) wp.org #3 4 Hustle – Email Marketing, Lead Generation, Optins, Popups 80K+ · 4.4★ (859) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 reSmush.it : The original free image compressor and optimizer plugin 100K+ · 4.3★ (166) wp.org #5 6 FileBird – WordPress Media Library Folders & File Manager 200K+ · 4.7★ (1125) wp.org #9 ↑2 3 too low 7 SmartCrawl SEO checker, analyzer & optimizer 10K+ · 4.8★ (171) wp.org #10 ↓1 3 too low 8 Maps Widget for Google Maps 20K+ · 4.6★ (512) wp.org #13 5 too low 9 Seraphinite Accelerator 50K+ · 4.8★ (476) wp.org #12 ↓2 3 too low 10 Dark Mode for WP Dashboard 3K+ · 4.8★ (34) wp.org #8 ↓1 2 too high 11 Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) wp.org #7 ↑1 4 too high 12 Smart Image Resize for WooCommerce 7K+ · 4.6★ (82) wp.org #11 ↑1 1 too high 13 Happyforms – Form Builder for WordPress: Drag & Drop Contact Forms, Surveys, Payments & Multipurpose Forms 20K+ · 4.4★ (433) wp.org #17 ↓1 4 too low 14 Disable Bulk Smush Limit of Smush Image Optimization 3K+ · 4.5★ (15) wp.org #4 10 too high 15 a3 Lazy Load 80K+ · 4.3★ (148) wp.org #15 ↓1 16 Highcompress Image Compressor 600+ · 4.9★ (143) wp.org #22 6 too low 17 Freesoul Deactivate Plugins – Disable plugins on individual WordPress pages 8K+ · 4.8★ (104) wp.org #21 4 too low 18 Branda – White Label & Branding, Free Login Page Customizer 10K+ · 4.5★ (30) wp.org #18 19 Beehive Analytics – Google Analytics Dashboard 20K+ · 4.5★ (13) wp.org #16 ↓1 3 too high 20 Media Cloud Sync 1K+ · 4.9★ (13) wp.org #19 ↑1 1 too high 21 Infinite Uploads – Offload, Optimize & Organize Your Media Library 800+ · 4.4★ (20) wp.org #20 ↓1 1 too high 22 All In One Lightbox – show any media in beautiful popups 3K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 AWcode Toolkit 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 ↑3 9 too high 24 Feather – Elementor Performance Optimizer | Asset Cleanup, Page Speed & Database Cleanup 90+ · 5.0★ (1) 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.