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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “announcements calendar”

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 “announcements calendar”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20.

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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Bookit — Booking & Appointment Calendar shows at wp.org #8 but places #14 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 4K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.8★ average from 24 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Event Organiser places #12 on merit, 4.6★ from 140 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.

How this rank is calculated

Each plugin's merit score multiplies these inputs together: how recently it was updated, how current its "tested up to" WordPress version is, its install base (log scale, capped at 10 million), its support thread resolution rate, and a rating score. The rating score weights the star average by review volume against a sitewide prior, then scales it by the lower bound of the share of 4 and 5 star reviews. A plugin with 3.7 stars from tens of thousands of reviews can still outscore a 4.9 with a few dozen, because the small sample carries less certainty.

A health factor between 0.4 and 1.15 then adjusts that score for what wp.org's search can't see: PHP fatals or failed activations on a test install, PHP and WordPress compatibility, memory and page-speed footprint, suspicious review patterns, closure risk, and a large install base with very few reviews. Clean, adopted plugins earn a small lift.

A keyword ranking starts from wp.org's search order for the term, weighting each position by 1 divided by its place, then applies the merit correction and health factor above. Relevance to the keyword stays in the result, so the order can differ from the all-categories list on /best, which scores plugins with no search term.

Hover a row to see the main reason for its position.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Events Shortcodes For The Events Calendar 10K+ · 4.9★ (214) wp.org #1 2 Eventin – Events Calendar, Tickets, Registration, Booking & WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.7★ (415) wp.org #2 3 Registrations for the Events Calendar – Event Registration Plugin 7K+ · 5.0★ (103) wp.org #3 4 Event Booking Manager for WooCommerce – Sell Tickets, Event Registration, RSVP & Event Calendar 7K+ · 4.5★ (167) wp.org #5 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 5 Simple Custom Post Order 300K+ · 4.8★ (588) wp.org #10 wp.org ranks it 5 places below merit 6 Pie Calendar – Events Calendar Made Simple 1K+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #4 ↑1 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 7 Events Search & Filter Bar for The Events Calendar 3K+ · 4.8★ (29) wp.org #6 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 8 SchedulePress – Auto Post & Publish, Auto Social Share, Schedule Posts with Editorial Calendar & Missed Schedule Post Publisher 10K+ · 4.6★ (202) wp.org #12 wp.org ranks it 4 places below merit 9 Tutor LMS – eLearning and online course solution 100K+ · 4.4★ (590) wp.org #14 wp.org ranks it 5 places below merit 10 HashBar – Announcement, Notification Bar & Popup Campaign 9K+ · 4.2★ (38) wp.org #7 wp.org ranks it 3 places above merit 11 Timetics – Appointment Booking Calendar & Scheduling 2K+ · 4.6★ (37) wp.org #9 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 12 Event Organiser 20K+ · 4.6★ (140) wp.org #18 wp.org ranks it 6 places below merit 13 PowerPack Addons for Elementor: Widgets, Form Styler and Templates 70K+ · 4.8★ (361) wp.org #24 wp.org ranks it 11 places below merit 14 Bookit — Booking & Appointment Calendar 4K+ · 3.8★ (24) wp.org #8 wp.org ranks it 6 places above merit 15 Events Calendar for Google 2K+ · 4.2★ (20) wp.org #11 wp.org ranks it 4 places above merit 16 MembershipWorks – Membership, Events & Directory 2K+ · 4.4★ (37) wp.org #19 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 17 Booktics – Appointment Booking Calendar for Service Businesses 800+ · 4.3★ (14) wp.org #13 wp.org ranks it 4 places above merit 18 Turbo Addons Elementor 3K+ · 4.8★ (5) wp.org #23 wp.org ranks it 5 places below merit 19 Missed Schedule Post Publisher 6K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #21 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 20 DMC Promo Banner – Sale Notifications & Announcement Bar 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 wp.org ranks it 5 places above merit 21 Nuage Business Calendar 60+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 22 Event Calendar, Event Tickets, Event Registration & Booking – Eventixa 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 ↑1 wp.org ranks it 6 places above merit 23 Event Calendar by Timely 300+ · 2.3★ (4) wp.org #17 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 6 places above merit 24 Ticket Spot – Event Tickets, RSVPs & Calendar 40+ · 4.0★ (2) wp.org #22 ↑2 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit

Merit ranking caps the install boost at 10M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted 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.