wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “event venue”
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 “event venue”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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
Sugar Calendar – Events Calendar, Event Tickets, and Events Management Platform shows at wp.org #11 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.5★ average from 24 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
How this rank is calculated
Each plugin's merit score multiplies these inputs together: how recently it was updated, how current its "tested up to" WordPress version is, its install base (log scale, capped at 10 million), its support thread resolution rate, and a rating score. The rating score weights the star average by review volume against a sitewide prior, then scales it by the lower bound of the share of 4 and 5 star reviews. A plugin with 3.7 stars from tens of thousands of reviews can still outscore a 4.9 with a few dozen, because the small sample carries less certainty.
A health factor between 0.4 and 1.15 then adjusts that score for what wp.org's search can't see: PHP fatals or failed activations on a test install, PHP and WordPress compatibility, memory and page-speed footprint, suspicious review patterns, closure risk, and a large install base with very few reviews. Clean, adopted plugins earn a small lift.
A keyword ranking starts from wp.org's search order for the term, weighting each position by 1 divided by its place, then applies the merit correction and health factor above. Relevance to the keyword stays in the result, so the order can differ from the all-categories list on /best, which scores plugins with no search term.
Hover a row to see the main reason for its position.
The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2,463)
wp.org #1 2 
Event Tickets and Registration 90K+ · 3.5★ (236)
wp.org #2 ↑2 3 
My Calendar – Accessible Event Manager 20K+ · 4.7★ (159)
wp.org #4 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 4 
Events Manager – Calendar, Bookings, Tickets, Appointments and more! 60K+ · 4.2★ (551)
wp.org #6 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 5 
EventPrime – Events Calendar, Bookings, Tickets & AI 7K+ · 4.4★ (85)
wp.org #5 6 
Event Genius – Event Calendar, Event Registration, and Attendee Management 600+ · 4.8★ (17) thin reviews
wp.org #3 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 3 places above merit 7 
Eventin – Events Calendar, Tickets, Registration, Booking & WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.7★ (415)
wp.org #9 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 8 
Event Organiser 20K+ · 4.6★ (140)
wp.org #7 ↑3 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 9 
WP Event Manager – Events Calendar, Registrations, Sell Tickets with WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.0★ (250)
wp.org #8 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 10 
Event Booking Manager for WooCommerce – Sell Tickets, Event Registration, RSVP & Event Calendar 7K+ · 4.5★ (167)
wp.org #10 ↓2 11 
The Events Calendar Shortcode & Block 10K+ · 4.7★ (101)
wp.org #14 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 12 
Event Single Page Builder For The Events Calendar 6K+ · 4.8★ (81)
wp.org #12 13 
Events Widgets For Elementor And The Events Calendar 10K+ · 4.5★ (108)
wp.org #13 14 
Tickera – Sell Tickets & Manage Events 2K+ · 4.5★ (292)
wp.org #18 ↑1 wp.org ranks it 4 places below merit 15 
Events Shortcodes For The Events Calendar 10K+ · 4.9★ (214)
wp.org #23 ↓8 wp.org ranks it 8 places below merit 16 
Event Espresso – Event Registration & Ticketing Sales 500+ · 4.4★ (136)
wp.org #16 ↑1 17 Sugar Calendar – Events Calendar, Event Tickets, and Events Management Platform 10K+ · 4.5★ (24) thin reviews
wp.org #11 wp.org ranks it 6 places above merit 18 
Event Monster – Event Manager, Event Booking, Event Ticket & Registration 600+ · 4.8★ (18) thin reviews
wp.org #15 ↑1 wp.org ranks it 3 places above merit 19 
WP Event Aggregator: Import Eventbrite events, Meetup events, social events and any iCal Events into Event Calendar 1K+ · 4.6★ (54)
wp.org #22 ↑2 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 20 
Event Tickets Manager for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.7★ (32)
wp.org #19 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 21 
Easy MCP AI – Connect Claude to WordPress: MCP Server for ChatGPT & AI Agents 30K+ · 4.9★ (16) thin reviews
wp.org #17 ↑5 wp.org ranks it 4 places above merit 22 
Event Countdown for The Events Calendar 3K+ · 4.6★ (48)
wp.org #24 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 23 
Simple Event Planner 1K+ · 4.3★ (23) thin reviews
wp.org #21 ↑1 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 24 
Show Eventbrite Events – Event Feed for Eventbrite 800+ · 4.3★ (9) thin reviews
wp.org #20 ↑1 wp.org ranks it 4 places above merit Merit ranking caps the install boost at 10M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted 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.