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

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 “watermark”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

Watermark PDF for WordPress and WooCommerce shows at wp.org #10 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 100+ 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

Envira Gallery – Image Photo Gallery, Albums, Video Gallery, Slideshows & More places #11 on merit, 4.7★ from 1597 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Image Watermark 40K+ · 4.2★ (290) wp.org #1 2 Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4340) wp.org #4 ↑2 2 too low 3 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7507) wp.org #9 6 too low 4 Product Watermark for WooCommerce 2K+ · 3.7★ (55) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Easy Watermark 30K+ · 3.7★ (159) wp.org #5 ↓1 6 WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click 100K+ · 4.8★ (1133) wp.org #12 6 too low 7 EWWW Image Optimizer 1M+ · 4.8★ (1841) wp.org #11 ↓1 4 too low 8 PDF Ink Lite – Free PDF Watermark & Password Protection 2K+ · 4.6★ (51) wp.org #6 ↓1 2 too high 9 Modula Image Gallery – Photo Grid & Video Gallery 100K+ · 4.7★ (616) wp.org #15 6 too low 10 Ultimate Watermark – Image Watermark, Image Protection & Bulk Watermarking 1K+ · 3.3★ (11) wp.org #2 8 too high 11 Envira Gallery – Image Photo Gallery, Albums, Video Gallery, Slideshows & More 100K+ · 4.7★ (1597) wp.org #19 ↑2 8 too low 12 FooGallery Photo Gallery : Image, Video & Masonry Galleries 100K+ · 4.8★ (988) wp.org #14 2 too low 13 Photo Gallery – Responsive Image Galleries by Supsystic 20K+ · 4.6★ (498) wp.org #23 ↓1 10 too low 14 PDF Embedder – PDF Viewer & Embed PDF Files for WordPress 300K+ · 4.7★ (523) wp.org #24 ↓6 10 too low 15 Disabled Source, Disabled Right Click and Content Protection 10K+ · 4.9★ (102) wp.org #20 ↓1 5 too low 16 Ultimate Before After Image Slider & Gallery – BEAF 30K+ · 4.9★ (106) wp.org #21 ↑2 5 too low 17 Protect Uploads 30K+ · 4.8★ (12) wp.org #17 ↓1 18 Watermark RELOADED 700+ · 2.8★ (11) wp.org #8 10 too high 19 Fluent PDF Generator 20K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #18 ↓1 1 too high 20 GrandPlugins Image Watermark 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #7 13 too high 21 Product Image Watermark for Woo 90+ · 4.0★ (8) wp.org #13 8 too high 22 NS Watermark For WooCommerce 20+ · 4.1★ (9) wp.org #22 ↓2 23 PDF Compressor & Watermark – iLovePDF 500+ · 3.4★ (5) wp.org #16 ↓2 7 too high 24 Watermark PDF for WordPress and WooCommerce 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 ↑1 14 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.