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

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 “thumb”, 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

Thumbnail Editor shows at wp.org #9 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 600+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

FooGallery Photo Gallery : Image, Video & Masonry Galleries places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 995 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 F Featured Image Admin Thumb 20K+ · 4.7★ (40) wp.org #1 2 Prime Slider – Hero Slider, Carousel, WooCommerce & Post Slider Elementor Addons 100K+ · 4.5★ (82) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too low 3 Kama Thumbnail 8K+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Product Feed PRO for WooCommerce by AdTribes – Product Feeds for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.7★ (1071) wp.org #10 ↑1 6 too low 5 CC Child Pages 9K+ · 4.9★ (49) wp.org #5 6 Comments Like Dislike 4K+ · 4.6★ (38) wp.org #4 ↓1 2 too high 7 Categories Images 50K+ · 4.5★ (86) wp.org #8 ↓1 1 too low 8 Video Conferencing with Zoom 10K+ · 4.8★ (217) wp.org #12 ↓3 4 too low 9 Posts Like Dislike 5K+ · 4.3★ (23) wp.org #6 ↓2 3 too high 10 FooGallery Photo Gallery : Image, Video & Masonry Galleries 100K+ · 4.8★ (995) wp.org #17 ↓2 7 too low 11 Inactive Logout 10K+ · 4.8★ (106) wp.org #15 ↓1 4 too low 12 Sina Extension for Elementor 40K+ · 4.9★ (35) wp.org #7 ↓1 5 too high 13 Category Posts Block 40K+ · 4.5★ (79) wp.org #14 ↓1 1 too low 14 RSS Aggregator by Feedzy – Feed to Post, Autoblogging, News & YouTube Video Feeds Aggregator 40K+ · 4.6★ (361) wp.org #21 7 too low 15 WebberZone Top 10 — Popular Posts 10K+ · 4.6★ (102) wp.org #16 1 too low 16 DearFlip – PDF Flipbook, 3D Flipbook, PDF embed, PDF viewer 200K+ · 4.9★ (194) wp.org #20 ↓4 4 too low 17 Force Regenerate Thumbnails 200K+ · 4.7★ (186) wp.org #22 ↓3 5 too low 18 Rate My Post – Star Rating Plugin by FeedbackWP 20K+ · 4.7★ (159) wp.org #18 19 Audio Player Block – Advanced Block for Embedding Audio Files 2K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #11 ↓1 8 too high 20 WooSwipe WooCommerce Gallery 3K+ · 4.5★ (39) wp.org #13 ↓1 7 too high 21 WPTerm 4K+ · 5.0★ (15) wp.org #19 ↓2 2 too high 22 Display Posts As List, Grid, Thumbs 800+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #23 ↓3 1 too low 23 Embed Lottie Player – bring your pages to life with animation 4K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #24 ↓2 1 too low 24 Thumbnail Editor 600+ · 3.0★ (5) wp.org #9 ↓1 15 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.