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← Rankings

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

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 “stations”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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

Radio Browser Stations shows at wp.org #3 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 16 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

Basic Google Maps Placemarks places #12 on merit, 4.4★ from 51 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. 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 Ecwid by Lightspeed Ecommerce Shopping Cart 20K+ · 4.5★ (228) wp.org #11 ↑1 8 too low 4 RD Station 20K+ · 3.0★ (7) wp.org #1 3 too high 5 StreamCast – bring live radio to your site with a sleek player 1K+ · 4.9★ (7) wp.org #5 6 Print Anywhere & Create PDFs of Order Receipts, Invoices, Labels & More. 1K+ · 4.7★ (18) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 Online Booking & Scheduling Calendar by vcita 1K+ · 3.9★ (117) wp.org #14 7 too low 8 Oliver POS – WooCommerce POS for iPhone, iPad & Android 700+ · 4.2★ (90) wp.org #15 7 too low 9 Radio Player Page 300+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #4 5 too high 10 Simple Location 300+ · 4.6★ (8) wp.org #6 4 too high 11 Jovvie Point of Sale POS for WooCommerce 100+ · 4.5★ (22) wp.org #12 ↓1 1 too low 12 Basic Google Maps Placemarks 2K+ · 4.4★ (51) wp.org #21 ↑1 9 too low 13 DPD SK for WooCommerce 700+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #7 ↑1 6 too high 14 LocateAndFilter 200+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #16 ↑1 2 too low 15 Quran Radio 90+ · 5.0★ (13) wp.org #17 ↓1 2 too low 16 Jock On Air Now (JOAN) 400+ · 3.8★ (9) wp.org #8 ↓1 8 too high 17 CommonsBooking 200+ · 4.8★ (6) wp.org #13 4 too high 18 Super Monitoring 50+ · 4.4★ (9) wp.org #18 19 Radio Browser Stations 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #3 16 too high 20 AjaxPress – SPA & Ajax Navigation with Persistent Audio Player for Radio 100+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #19 ↑2 1 too high 21 S Simple Radio Forty Two 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #22 ↑1 1 too low 22 Gasolineras de España 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 TheAVCoach Weather Station for WeatherLink 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 3 too high 24 WS40 – Live Weather 10+ · 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.