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← Rankings

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

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 “musicians”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

Music Smartlink Maker & Concerts shows at wp.org #14 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 50+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

MP3 Audio Player – Music Player, Podcast Player & Radio by Sonaar places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 302 reviews, but shows at wp.org #12. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461) wp.org #1 2 GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 100K+ · 4.6★ (708) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Event Tickets and Registration 90K+ · 3.5★ (236) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Music Player for Elementor – Audio Player & Podcast Player 10K+ · 4.7★ (123) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Automatic YouTube Gallery – Embed Auto-Updating YouTube Video Galleries, Feeds, Playlists & Channels 9K+ · 4.8★ (31) wp.org #5 6 Easy Appointment Booking & Scheduling Plugin – Webba Booking Calendar 2K+ · 4.9★ (159) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 MP3 Audio Player – Music Player, Podcast Player & Radio by Sonaar 20K+ · 4.8★ (302) wp.org #12 ↑1 5 too low 8 Sugar Calendar – Events Calendar, Event Tickets, and Events Management Platform 10K+ · 4.5★ (24) wp.org #8 9 Cue by AudioTheme.com 5K+ · 4.7★ (36) wp.org #11 2 too low 10 Musician’s Pack for Elementor – Music Website Widgets & Templates 400+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #4 6 too high 11 Timetics – Appointment Booking Calendar & Scheduling 2K+ · 4.6★ (36) wp.org #16 5 too low 12 Video Gallery – YouTube, Vimeo Gallery & YouTube API 1K+ · 4.0★ (7) wp.org #7 5 too high 13 Schema Package – Structured Data & Rich Snippets Tool for SEO 200+ · 4.8★ (20) wp.org #24 11 too low 14 Time Slot – Booking and Appointment System 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #10 ↑2 4 too high 15 GS YouTube Gallery – Video Feed, Channel Playlist & YouTube Slider 100+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #22 7 too low 16 Player for SoundCloud – share your music without leaving your site 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 ↑1 3 too high 17 Blocks for Bandcamp 300+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 2 too low 18 Soundmento 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 ↓5 3 too high 19 Events Calendar Plus 80+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↑1 1 too low 20 DS Custom Audio Player 80+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↓1 1 too low 21 ArtistKit 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 2 too low 22 MusicNetics Artist Toolkit 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 4 too high 23 Audio Editor & Recorder 100+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #17 6 too high 24 Music Smartlink Maker & Concerts 50+ · 3.0★ (1) wp.org #14 ↑1 10 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.