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

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 “arcade”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 6 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 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

SimpleSocial shows at wp.org #17 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Food Online for WooCommerce 300+ · 4.1★ (26) wp.org #1 2 WP Maps – Google Maps, OpenStreetMap, Mapbox, Store Locator with Search, Filters & Listings 60K+ · 4.3★ (122) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 iDev Games Arcade — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 Popular Brand Icons – Simple Icons 3K+ · 4.7★ (10) wp.org #16 ↓1 12 too low 5 Easy Map – Store Locator, OpenStreetMap, Google Maps, Mapbox 50+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too low 6 Retro Arcade Page Destroyer — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #4 ↓1 2 too high 7 LuckyGrid Lite — Arcade Prize Draw — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #5 ↓1 2 too high 8 Click Action Sounds – Click Sound Effects for Buttons, Links & Forms 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too high 9 Shortcode Arcade Crypto Idle Game — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 ↓1 1 too high 10 Online Games 70+ · 3.2★ (13) wp.org #24 ↓2 14 too low 11 Pong Block 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 ↓1 2 too high 12 Snake Retro Game Shortcode by Eskim 80+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 ↓1 1 too high 13 Miniclip Games Arcade 80+ · 3.6★ (7) wp.org #21 ↓2 8 too low 14 S Subsurf APK Info Cards — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↓1 2 too high 15 ButtonCraft Animated Buttons – With Click Analytics — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 ↓1 5 too high 16 MKM Content Layout Studio — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 ↓1 3 too high 17 Sadat Loginverse — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↓1 3 too high 18 Plays Games Widget — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 ↓1 3 too high 19 Vibetiles 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 1 too high 20 PRBLEM Safe Media Inspector — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↓2 1 too high 21 GameSync Game Data Importer — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 1 too high 22 CTL Battleship Minesweeper Lite 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 ↓2 23 CTL Playful Kitty Lite 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↓2 24 SimpleSocial 100+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #17 ↓1 7 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.