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

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 “tournaments”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

AnWP Sports Leagues – Basketball, Ice Hockey, Handball, Rugby & More shows at wp.org #6 but places #12 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Tickera – Sell Tickets & Manage Events places #6 on merit, 4.5★ from 292 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 Events Manager – Calendar, Bookings, Tickets, Appointments and more! 60K+ · 4.2★ (551) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Registrations for the Events Calendar – Event Registration Plugin 7K+ · 5.0★ (103) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Simple Tournament Brackets 300+ · 4.1★ (8) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 Kali Forms — Contact Form & Drag-and-Drop Builder 10K+ · 4.8★ (89) wp.org #4 5 JoomSport – for Sports: Team & League, Football, Hockey & more 1K+ · 4.9★ (44) wp.org #5 6 Tickera – Sell Tickets & Manage Events 2K+ · 4.5★ (292) wp.org #12 ↑2 6 too low 7 W World Cup Predictor 100+ · 5.0★ (25) wp.org #14 ↓2 7 too low 8 AnWP Football Leagues 700+ · 4.9★ (14) wp.org #11 3 too low 9 Event Monster – Event Manager, Event Booking, Event Ticket & Registration 600+ · 4.8★ (18) wp.org #13 4 too low 10 Court Reservation – Tennis, Padel & Sports Court Booking 90+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #9 1 too high 11 CyberPress 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #7 ↓1 4 too high 12 AnWP Sports Leagues – Basketball, Ice Hockey, Handball, Rugby & More 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #6 ↑2 6 too high 13 Tournamatch 100+ · 4.3★ (7) wp.org #8 ↓1 5 too high 14 MeinTurnierplan 20+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #10 4 too high 15 School Management System – WPSchoolPress 1K+ · 4.0★ (21) wp.org #16 1 too low 16 Membership For WooCommerce 800+ · 4.4★ (28) wp.org #24 8 too low 17 Sportsteam Widget – Football livescore 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #18 1 too low 18 Out of Stock Message Manager for WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.2★ (6) wp.org #22 4 too low 19 Rotation Tournaments 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 4 too high 20 EKC Tournament Manager 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 21 Football Studio – Soccer League, Tournament & Club Manager 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 22 AZScore: Live Score and football fixures and results 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 5 too high 23 Auto Fixture Generator for SportsPress 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 4 too high 24 wp-championship 40+ · 0.0★ (0) 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.