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

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 generator”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 7 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

HTML Editor for Contact Form 7 shows at wp.org #6 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

AMP WP – Google AMP For WordPress places #8 on merit, 4.5★ from 55 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 Bulk Page Generator and Mass Page Builder – Page Generator 3K+ · 4.6★ (70) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Simple Tournament Brackets 300+ · 4.1★ (8) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Bulk Page Generator – LPagery 3K+ · 5.0★ (31) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 DTX – Dynamic Text Extension for Contact Form 7 100K+ · 4.7★ (99) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 All-in-One Video Gallery – Video Player & Galleries for YouTube, Vimeo & Self-Hosted Videos 20K+ · 4.8★ (136) wp.org #10 5 too low 6 ImgSEO – AI Image Alt Text Generator & Image SEO Tools 400+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #3 3 too high 7 Copy Anything to Clipboard for WordPress – Copy Button, Copy Text & Copy Code 10K+ · 4.5★ (36) wp.org #8 1 too low 8 AMP WP – Google AMP For WordPress 600+ · 4.5★ (55) wp.org #14 6 too low 9 Data Source for Contact Form 7 300+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #9 10 Schema Package – Structured Data & Rich Snippets Tool for SEO 200+ · 4.8★ (20) wp.org #18 ↓1 8 too low 11 Sport Predictions for JoomSport 50+ · 4.6★ (11) wp.org #11 12 Dynamic Team Manager – Team Member Showcase with grid, slider, table Elementor widget & shortcode 900+ · 4.6★ (25) wp.org #19 ↓1 7 too low 13 WP-Lister Lite for Amazon 800+ · 3.9★ (22) wp.org #12 1 too high 14 Blockenberg — 645 Advanced Gutenberg Blocks, 683 Templates and AI Agent for WordPress Block Editor 1K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #7 7 too high 15 Wow Elements Addons for Elementor 60+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #24 ↓4 9 too low 16 Opace AI Scribe: SEO Content Creator & Humanizer for OpenAI, Anthropic & Gemini 100+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #15 1 too high 17 HTML Editor for Contact Form 7 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #6 11 too high 18 Video Gallery Block – showcase your videos in a filterable gallery 1K+ · 4.2★ (6) wp.org #21 3 too low 19 Enfants IMG Performer 40+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #22 3 too low 20 Plaintext for the Newsletter plugin 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 7 too high 21 Sportstats Cup Generator — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 ↓1 4 too high 22 Bread 300+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↓1 2 too high 23 AI Content Bridge — AI Content Generator with Topic Clusters & Internal Linking — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 ↓2 24 Cost Calculator for Contact Form 7 80+ · 2.0★ (1) wp.org #16 8 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.