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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “itunes”

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 “itunes”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 6 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 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

iTunes Link Engine shows at wp.org #1 but places #5 on merit, a gap of 4 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 All-in-one Sticky Floating Contact Form, Call, Click to Chat, and 50+ Social Icon Tabs – My Sticky Elements 40K+ · 4.9★ (542) wp.org #3 2 too low 2 Seriously Simple Podcasting 30K+ · 4.7★ (329) wp.org #2 3 Photo Engine (Media Organizer & Lightroom) 2K+ · 4.9★ (210) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 Church Content – Sermons, Events and More 4K+ · 4.9★ (49) wp.org #4 5 iTunes Link Engine 100+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #1 4 too high 6 Content Pilot – Autoblogging & Affiliate Marketing Suite 800+ · 3.6★ (36) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 rtMedia for WordPress, BuddyPress and bbPress 7K+ · 3.7★ (152) wp.org #10 3 too low 8 Starfish Review Generation & Marketing for WordPress 200+ · 4.6★ (25) wp.org #11 3 too low 9 Captivate Sync 1K+ · 3.0★ (9) wp.org #6 3 too high 10 Socicon 200+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #8 2 too high 11 Hamazon 90+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #9 2 too high 12 Local Links 30+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #12 13 Mobile Smart App Banner 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 2 too low 14 LabelGrid Tools 50+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #14 15 S Smart App Banner 600+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #22 7 too low 16 Heimatradio Footer Radio Player 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 3 too high 17 VMPlayer 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 18 Mattytap Sermons 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 19 Tune Library 10+ · 4.0★ (1) wp.org #16 3 too high 20 Listen2It – Text-to-speech audio article 70+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 1 too high 21 Payshop Online Payments 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 1 too high 22 SimpleDRM 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 1 too high 23 AiO Podcast Studio: All-in-One Podcast Manager, Player & Publisher — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 24 Setlist 10+ · 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.