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

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 “league”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 5 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

ProScores – Live Scores shows at wp.org #5 but places #13 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 800+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Ninja Tables – Easy Data Table Builder places #7 on merit, 4.6★ from 472 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 SportsPress – Sports Club & League Manager 10K+ · 4.7★ (369) wp.org #1 2 JoomSport – for Sports: Team & League, Football, Hockey & more 1K+ · 4.9★ (44) wp.org #2 3 AnWP Football Leagues 700+ · 4.9★ (14) wp.org #3 4 Data Tables Generator by Supsystic – Excel-like, WooCommerce & Pricing Tables 10K+ · 4.7★ (497) wp.org #12 8 too low 5 Check & Log Email – Easy Email Testing & Mail logging 90K+ · 4.8★ (292) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 Football Pool 900+ · 4.9★ (83) wp.org #11 5 too low 7 Ninja Tables – Easy Data Table Builder 70K+ · 4.6★ (472) wp.org #18 ↓5 11 too low 8 WP Club Manager – WordPress Sports Club Plugin 600+ · 4.7★ (40) wp.org #9 1 too low 9 Dynamic Team Manager – Team Member Showcase with grid, slider, table Elementor widget & shortcode 900+ · 4.6★ (25) wp.org #10 1 too low 10 Achievements sports league 100+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #6 4 too high 11 AnWP Sports Leagues – Basketball, Ice Hockey, Handball, Rugby & More 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #4 7 too high 12 Advanced H2H for SportsPress 200+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #7 5 too high 13 ProScores – Live Scores 800+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #5 8 too high 14 Playlist Player for YouTube – Fast, Privacy-Friendly Playlists & Channel Feed 1K+ · 4.8★ (13) wp.org #15 1 too low 15 StreamWeasels Twitch Integration 1K+ · 4.8★ (23) wp.org #21 ↓5 6 too low 16 Simple Tournament Brackets 300+ · 4.1★ (8) wp.org #13 ↑2 3 too high 17 Sport Predictions for JoomSport 50+ · 4.6★ (11) wp.org #16 ↓2 1 too high 18 ImagePress – Front-End Photo Uploads & Member Galleries 200+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #19 1 too low 19 Block for Font Awesome Icons – Searchable Icon Picker, SVG, FA 7 1K+ · 3.7★ (6) wp.org #17 2 too high 20 Scoremer: Football Livescore, Tables and Fixtures 80+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #22 ↓5 2 too low 21 League Table – WordPress Table Plugin 1K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↓2 7 too high 22 M Markdown for AI Agents 500+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 2 too high 23 AZScore: Live Score and football fixures and results 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24 ↓3 1 too low 24 WP Guardian – Security Hardening Checklist & Lightweight Firewall 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 1 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.