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← Rankings

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

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 “artists”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 of the top 20. 4 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

Bandsintown Events shows at wp.org #9 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 4K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.3★ average from 8 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

MalCare WordPress Security Plugin – Malware Scanner, Cleaner, Security Firewall places #12 on merit, 4.4★ from 559 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #1 2 Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4342) wp.org #2 3 Presto Player 100K+ · 4.8★ (346) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Photo Gallery by Supsystic – Image Gallery, Masonry, Albums & Lightbox 20K+ · 4.6★ (498) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Issues and Series for Newspapers, Magazines, Publishers, Writers 2K+ · 4.5★ (73) wp.org #3 2 too high 6 MP3 Audio Player – Music Player, Podcast Player & Radio by Sonaar 20K+ · 4.8★ (302) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 Music Player for Elementor – Audio Player & Podcast Player 10K+ · 4.7★ (123) wp.org #14 ↓1 7 too low 8 Portfolio Filter Gallery – Photo Gallery 20K+ · 4.8★ (348) wp.org #19 11 too low 9 Spotlight Social Photo Feed 60K+ · 4.7★ (171) wp.org #17 8 too low 10 Audio Player Block – Advanced Block for Embedding Audio Files 2K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #6 4 too high 11 Business Directory Plugin – Easy Listing & Member Directories for WordPress 10K+ · 4.6★ (504) wp.org #22 ↓1 11 too low 12 MalCare WordPress Security Plugin – Malware Scanner, Cleaner, Security Firewall 100K+ · 4.4★ (559) wp.org #24 12 too low 13 AudioIgniter Music Player 10K+ · 4.6★ (64) wp.org #18 5 too low 14 HTML5 Audio Player – The Ultimate No-Code Podcast, MP3 & Audio Player 10K+ · 4.6★ (169) wp.org #20 ↑2 6 too low 15 MusicIDB Events Calendar 90+ · 5.0★ (28) wp.org #16 ↓1 1 too low 16 Bulk Images to Posts 1K+ · 4.8★ (18) wp.org #11 5 too high 17 Liza Widget For Spotify and Elementor 1K+ · 4.0★ (8) wp.org #8 9 too high 18 Musician’s Pack for Elementor – Music Website Widgets & Templates 400+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #10 8 too high 19 Disable Right Click RB – Content Copy Protection, Prevent Copy & No Right Click 600+ · 4.2★ (14) wp.org #23 4 too low 20 Bandsintown Events 4K+ · 3.3★ (8) wp.org #9 11 too high 21 Werk aan de Muur 900+ · 4.5★ (6) wp.org #15 ↑1 6 too high 22 WPZOOM Portfolio Lite – Filterable Portfolio Plugin 20K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #12 10 too high 23 MusicNetics Artist Toolkit 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 ↑1 10 too high 24 Mosaic Gallery – Advanced Gallery 3K+ · 4.0★ (2) wp.org #21 ↓1 3 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.