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

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 “srcset”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

Image Prioritizer shows at wp.org #5 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 18 places. Its 40K+ 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.

Buried gem

Advanced Responsive Video Embedder for Rumble, Odysee, YouTube, Vimeo, Kick … places #9 on merit, 4.2★ from 169 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 Perfect Images: Regenerate Thumbnails, Image Sizes, WebP & AVIF 60K+ · 4.8★ (279) wp.org #1 2 Advanced WordPress Backgrounds 30K+ · 4.8★ (44) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too low 3 ShortPixel Adaptive Images – WebP, AVIF, CDN, Image Optimization 10K+ · 4.8★ (145) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too low 4 Better image sizes 2K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #2 ↑6 2 too high 5 WebP Express 300K+ · 4.4★ (162) wp.org #10 ↑1 5 too low 6 WPSpeed – WordPress Speed, Cache & Performance Optimization (Core Web Vitals, PageSpeed 100) 2K+ · 4.9★ (40) wp.org #9 ↑1 3 too low 7 Flying Images: Optimize and Lazy Load Images for Faster Page Speed 2K+ · 4.8★ (26) wp.org #8 ↑1 1 too low 8 Disable Responsive Images Complete 2K+ · 4.3★ (12) wp.org #6 ↓1 2 too high 9 Advanced Responsive Video Embedder for Rumble, Odysee, YouTube, Vimeo, Kick … 20K+ · 4.2★ (169) wp.org #18 ↓1 9 too low 10 Archivarix External Images Importer 1K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #7 3 too high 11 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #12 ↑1 1 too low 12 Advanced Media Offloader – Offload Media to Amazon S3, Cloudflare R2, DigitalOcean Spaces & More 7K+ · 4.7★ (48) wp.org #15 ↓9 3 too low 13 Kraken.io Image Optimizer – Compress, Convert to WebP & AVIF, Resize & Bulk Optimize 10K+ · 4.5★ (119) wp.org #22 ↓3 9 too low 14 Publitio 400+ · 5.0★ (41) wp.org #21 7 too low 15 ThumbPress – Compress Images, Manage Thumbnails, Detect Image Issues, WebP/AVIF, Lazy Loading, Hotlinking & More 20K+ · 3.7★ (117) wp.org #19 ↓3 4 too low 16 Images to WebP 9K+ · 4.4★ (32) wp.org #11 ↑1 5 too high 17 TP Product Image Flipper for WooCommerce 9K+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #16 ↓1 1 too high 18 Offload Media – Cloud Storage 1K+ · 4.4★ (18) wp.org #17 1 too high 19 Image SEO – AI-Driven Image SEO Optimizer 900+ · 3.4★ (57) wp.org #24 ↓4 5 too low 20 Smart Auto Upload Images – Import External Images 5K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #13 7 too high 21 Pixellize Image Optimizer 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #14 7 too high 22 Image Quality Control | Still BE 400+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #20 ↓2 2 too high 23 Image Prioritizer 40K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #5 ↓1 18 too high 24 Downloadyar Remote Media 30+ · 5.0★ (2) 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.