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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “bracket game”

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 “bracket game”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 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

Sportstats Cup Generator shows at wp.org #11 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its — 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

SportsPress – Sports Club & League Manager places #3 on merit, 4.7★ from 369 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 AnWP Football Leagues 700+ · 4.9★ (14) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 AnWP Sports Leagues – Basketball, Ice Hockey, Handball, Rugby & More 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 SportsPress – Sports Club & League Manager 10K+ · 4.7★ (369) wp.org #14 ↓4 11 too low 4 Sport Predictions for JoomSport 50+ · 4.6★ (11) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too low 5 Tournamatch 100+ · 4.3★ (7) wp.org #3 2 too high 6 Blockenberg — 645 Advanced Gutenberg Blocks, 683 Templates and AI Agent for WordPress Block Editor 1K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #4 ↑1 2 too high 7 Dynamic Team Manager – Team Member Showcase with grid, slider, table Elementor widget & shortcode 900+ · 4.6★ (25) wp.org #18 ↓3 11 too low 8 SmartVideo – Video Player and CDN 1K+ · 4.1★ (19) wp.org #17 ↓3 9 too low 9 WP-KaTeX 700+ · 4.6★ (11) wp.org #22 ↓3 13 too low 10 Post Kinds 100+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #19 ↓3 9 too low 11 CardPrices.io Card Links — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #6 5 too high 12 Challonge 60+ · 4.1★ (9) wp.org #21 ↓3 9 too low 13 SPOSCOR Basketball — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 6 too high 14 SPOSCOR Padel — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 ↓2 6 too high 15 Clanfront — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 6 too high 16 LeagueMakerApp Competition Embed — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 6 too high 17 Brackets Ninja: Create Brackets & Tournaments and Easily Manage Them Online 100+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #20 ↓3 3 too low 18 Sportstats Cup Generator — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 ↓3 7 too high 19 Swiss Floorball API — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↓3 7 too high 20 SPOSCOR Baseball — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 ↓2 7 too high 21 Football Studio – Soccer League, Tournament & Club Manager 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 ↓3 6 too high 22 WunderGoal — Football Picks & Pools — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↓3 6 too high 23 T Teams of Tennis — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↓3 24 P Prediction League 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 ↓3

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.