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

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 “station”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 4 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

Radio Browser Stations shows at wp.org #4 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 20+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

HTML5 Audio Player – The Ultimate No-Code Podcast, MP3 & Audio Player places #2 on merit, 4.6★ from 169 reviews, but shows at wp.org #10. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Radio Station by netmix® – Manage and play your Show Schedule in WordPress! 1K+ · 4.6★ (30) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 HTML5 Audio Player – The Ultimate No-Code Podcast, MP3 & Audio Player 10K+ · 4.6★ (169) wp.org #10 8 too low 3 Radio Player Page 300+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 Ecwid by Lightspeed Ecommerce Shopping Cart 20K+ · 4.5★ (228) wp.org #11 7 too low 5 RD Station 20K+ · 3.0★ (7) wp.org #1 4 too high 6 StreamCast – bring live radio to your site with a sleek player 1K+ · 4.9★ (7) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 Jovvie Point of Sale POS for WooCommerce 100+ · 4.5★ (22) wp.org #12 5 too low 8 Print Anywhere & Create PDFs of Order Receipts, Invoices, Labels & More. 1K+ · 4.7★ (18) wp.org #9 1 too low 9 Online Booking & Scheduling Calendar by vcita 1K+ · 3.9★ (117) wp.org #15 6 too low 10 Oliver POS – WooCommerce POS for iPhone, iPad & Android 700+ · 4.2★ (90) wp.org #16 6 too low 11 Simple Location 300+ · 4.6★ (8) wp.org #6 5 too high 12 Jock On Air Now (JOAN) 400+ · 3.8★ (9) wp.org #7 5 too high 13 Quran Radio 90+ · 5.0★ (13) wp.org #18 ↓1 5 too low 14 DPD SK for WooCommerce 700+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #8 6 too high 15 Basic Google Maps Placemarks 2K+ · 4.4★ (51) wp.org #22 ↑1 7 too low 16 CommonsBooking 200+ · 4.8★ (6) wp.org #14 2 too high 17 LocateAndFilter 200+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #17 ↑1 18 AjaxPress – SPA & Ajax Navigation with Persistent Audio Player for Radio 100+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #20 ↑2 2 too low 19 Radio Browser Stations 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #4 ↓1 15 too high 20 Super Monitoring 50+ · 4.4★ (9) wp.org #19 1 too high 21 TheAVCoach Weather Station for WeatherLink 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 8 too high 22 S Simple Radio Forty Two 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #23 ↑1 1 too low 23 Vma plus Station 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 2 too high 24 WS40 – Live Weather 10+ · 5.0★ (1) 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.