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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “escape 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 “escape game”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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

Vampire Character Manager shows at wp.org #10 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 10+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

SportsPress – Sports Club & League Manager places #8 on merit, 4.7★ from 369 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 VikAppointments Services Booking Calendar 500+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #1 2 Bricksable for Bricks Builder 10K+ · 5.0★ (61) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 StreamWeasels Twitch Integration 1K+ · 4.8★ (23) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 GravityExport Lite for Gravity Forms 10K+ · 5.0★ (39) wp.org #4 5 Unlimited Elements for Elementor 300K+ · 4.8★ (525) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 Live Composer – Free WordPress Website Builder 10K+ · 4.4★ (212) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 OpenStation – Admin Dashboard Notes, Custom Dashboard, AI Assistant & PWA 1K+ · 5.0★ (23) wp.org #5 2 too high 8 SportsPress – Sports Club & League Manager 10K+ · 4.7★ (369) wp.org #20 12 too low 9 Rate My Post – Star Rating Plugin by FeedbackWP 20K+ · 4.7★ (159) wp.org #21 12 too low 10 Price by Quantity & Bulk Quantity Discounts for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.8★ (16) wp.org #11 ↑1 1 too low 11 Radio Station by netmix® – Manage and play your Show Schedule in WordPress! 1K+ · 4.6★ (30) wp.org #16 5 too low 12 Chessgame Shizzle 100+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #6 6 too high 13 Sportsteam Widget – Football livescore 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #15 2 too low 14 Escape Room Booking Pro — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 6 too high 15 Rate Star Review Vote – AJAX Reviews, Votes, Star Ratings 30+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #14 ↑1 1 too high 16 QuestUno — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 4 too high 17 Vampire Character Manager 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 ↓2 7 too high 18 PosLimitless Booking — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 5 too high 19 CaptchaKit — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 2 too high 20 Orbem Studio — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 2 too high 21 Swiss Floorball API — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 2 too high 22 Shakvaro EGF Reader Shortcode — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 23 G GameQuery Server Lists — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 24 Geo Tools — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24

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.