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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “wordpress lightbox”

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 “wordpress lightbox”, 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

Ultimate Lightbox shows at wp.org #9 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.1★ average from 19 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Photonic Gallery & Lightbox for Flickr, SmugMug & Others places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 193 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Responsive Lightbox & Gallery 100K+ · 4.9★ (2003) wp.org #1 ↑3 2 Firelight Lightbox 200K+ · 4.8★ (361) wp.org #3 ↑5 1 too low 3 Lightbox & Modal Popup WordPress Plugin – FooBox 100K+ · 3.9★ (95) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Lightbox with PhotoSwipe 20K+ · 4.9★ (115) wp.org #4 ↓3 5 Meow Lightbox 10K+ · 4.9★ (190) wp.org #7 ↓4 2 too low 6 Lightbox for Gallery & Image Block 20K+ · 5.0★ (88) wp.org #8 ↓1 2 too low 7 S Simple Lightbox 100K+ · 4.3★ (239) wp.org #5 2 too high 8 WP Video Lightbox 30K+ · 4.3★ (67) wp.org #6 2 too high 9 Gallery Lightbox 10K+ · 4.7★ (106) wp.org #10 ↑1 1 too low 10 FancyBox for WordPress 30K+ · 4.6★ (92) wp.org #15 ↑2 5 too low 11 WP Lightbox 2 20K+ · 4.4★ (89) wp.org #14 3 too low 12 Photonic Gallery & Lightbox for Flickr, SmugMug & Others 10K+ · 4.8★ (193) wp.org #21 ↑3 9 too low 13 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #16 3 too low 14 Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4342) wp.org #24 10 too low 15 LightPress Lightbox 40K+ · 4.6★ (72) wp.org #11 ↓2 4 too high 16 Lightbox slider – Responsive Lightbox Gallery 3K+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #12 ↑1 4 too high 17 Ultimate Lightbox 1K+ · 4.1★ (19) wp.org #9 ↑1 8 too high 18 ARI Fancy Lightbox – Popup for WordPress 10K+ · 4.7★ (71) wp.org #23 5 too low 19 Lightbox Images for Divi Enhanced 4K+ · 5.0★ (15) wp.org #17 ↑1 2 too high 20 MetaSlider Gallery – Image Gallery, Lightbox Galleries, Video Galleries 10K+ · 4.4★ (9) wp.org #13 ↓1 7 too high 21 WF Magnific Lightbox 1K+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #20 ↑1 1 too high 22 Simple Lightbox for WordPress 400+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #19 ↓4 3 too high 23 All In One Lightbox – show any media in beautiful popups 3K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #18 ↑1 5 too high 24 Thumbnail Slider With Lightbox 700+ · 3.8★ (11) 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.