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← Rankings

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

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 “band”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 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

Blocks for Bandcamp shows at wp.org #9 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

MP3 Audio Player – Music Player, Podcast Player & Radio by Sonaar places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 302 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Blog2Social: Social Media Auto Post & Scheduler 40K+ · 4.5★ (2107) wp.org #1 2 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too low 3 Hide My WP Ghost – Security & Firewall 100K+ · 4.5★ (373) wp.org #8 ↓5 5 too low 4 Contextual Related Posts 50K+ · 4.8★ (201) wp.org #10 6 too low 5 MusicIDB Events Calendar 80+ · 5.0★ (28) wp.org #7 ↑2 2 too low 6 Music Player for Elementor – Audio Player & Podcast Player 10K+ · 4.7★ (123) wp.org #12 6 too low 7 MB Relationships 1K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #2 5 too high 8 Nelio Content – Editorial Calendar & Social Media Auto-Posting 3K+ · 4.4★ (104) wp.org #11 3 too low 9 Master Addons for Elementor – Elementor Addons, Widgets, Mega Menu Builder, Popup Builder, Widget Builder & Template Kits 30K+ · 4.5★ (212) wp.org #16 ↓1 7 too low 10 Musician’s Pack for Elementor – Music Website Widgets & Templates 400+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #4 ↑1 6 too high 11 MP3 Audio Player – Music Player, Podcast Player & Radio by Sonaar 20K+ · 4.8★ (302) wp.org #20 ↓3 9 too low 12 Parallax Section Block – Add Parallax Scrolling Effects to Sections 3K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #5 ↑1 7 too high 13 SEO Booster 800+ · 4.8★ (54) wp.org #24 ↓2 11 too low 14 GPX Route Map 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #6 ↑2 8 too high 15 Event Tickets Manager for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.7★ (32) wp.org #21 ↓3 6 too low 16 AEH Speed Optimization: Browser Cache, Optimized Minify, Lazy Loading & Image Optimization 2K+ · 3.2★ (20) wp.org #13 3 too high 17 Video Gallery – YouTube, Vimeo Gallery & YouTube API 1K+ · 4.0★ (7) wp.org #14 3 too high 18 Japanized for WooCommerce 10K+ · 3.3★ (21) wp.org #17 1 too high 19 Opace AI Scribe: SEO Content Creator & Humanizer for OpenAI, Anthropic & Gemini 100+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #22 ↓3 3 too low 20 StoreAgent – WooCommerce AI Chatbot, AI Agent & WooCommerce MCP Server 600+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #18 ↑5 2 too high 21 Text Typing – grab attention with animated typing headlines 3K+ · 3.8★ (6) wp.org #19 ↓3 2 too high 22 Blocks for Bandcamp 300+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 ↓2 13 too high 23 Migrate away from FooGallery 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 ↑5 8 too high 24 MusicNetics Artist Toolkit 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 ↓2 1 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.