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

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 “game database”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

AnWP Sports Leagues – Basketball, Ice Hockey, Handball, Rugby & More shows at wp.org #9 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Product Feed Manager for WooCommerce – CTX Feed – Support 220+ Shopping, AI & Social Channels places #8 on merit, 4.6★ from 838 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7520) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 GeeK! – Movie & Game Database 70+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 wpDataTables – WordPress Data Table, Dynamic Tables & Table Charts Plugin 60K+ · 4.5★ (449) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Interactive Content – H5P 40K+ · 4.8★ (61) wp.org #5 6 MalCare WordPress Security Plugin – Malware Scanner, Cleaner, Security Firewall 100K+ · 4.4★ (559) wp.org #10 ↑6 4 too low 7 JoomSport – for Sports: Team & League, Football, Hockey & more 1K+ · 4.9★ (44) wp.org #7 ↑1 8 Product Feed Manager for WooCommerce – CTX Feed – Support 220+ Shopping, AI & Social Channels 90K+ · 4.6★ (838) wp.org #16 ↓5 8 too low 9 GamiPress – Gamification plugin to reward points, badges & ranks in WordPress, now with AI 10K+ · 4.9★ (493) wp.org #17 8 too low 10 Bricksable for Bricks Builder 10K+ · 5.0★ (61) wp.org #12 ↓3 2 too low 11 Better Messages – Chat Rooms, Group Chat, Private Messages & AI Chat Bots 10K+ · 4.8★ (142) wp.org #15 ↑3 4 too low 12 Personal Dictionary – Vocabulary Games, Memory Games 70+ · 4.8★ (8) wp.org #4 8 too high 13 Football Pool 900+ · 4.9★ (83) wp.org #14 ↓4 1 too low 14 GravityExport Lite for Gravity Forms 10K+ · 5.0★ (39) wp.org #13 ↓1 1 too high 15 Advanced IP Blocker 3K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #11 ↑3 4 too high 16 HubSpot All-In-One Marketing – Forms, Popups, Live Chat 200K+ · 4.3★ (207) wp.org #19 ↓6 3 too low 17 M Multi Device Switcher 10K+ · 4.3★ (11) wp.org #8 ↓1 9 too high 18 Fluent Booking – The Ultimate Appointments Scheduling, Events Booking, Events Calendar Solution 20K+ · 4.7★ (46) wp.org #23 ↓1 5 too low 19 Datafeedr WooCommerce Importer 4K+ · 4.8★ (38) wp.org #24 ↓1 5 too low 20 Automatic Domain Changer 10K+ · 4.3★ (29) wp.org #22 ↓2 2 too low 21 Lucky Wheel for WooCommerce – Spin a Sale 1K+ · 4.5★ (19) wp.org #20 ↓1 1 too high 22 AnWP Sports Leagues – Basketball, Ice Hockey, Handball, Rugby & More 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #9 ↑6 13 too high 23 Graphina – Charts and Graphs For Elementor 9K+ · 4.1★ (16) wp.org #21 2 too high 24 A Random Number 700+ · 3.7★ (6) wp.org #18 6 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.