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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “upcoming posts”

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 “upcoming posts”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 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.

T

Ranked above its merit

Themify Event Post shows at wp.org #7 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Booking for Appointments and Events Calendar – Amelia places #10 on merit, 4.6★ from 793 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 The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461) wp.org #1 2 SchedulePress – Auto Post & Publish, Auto Social Share, Schedule Posts with Editorial Calendar & Missed Schedule Post Publisher 10K+ · 4.6★ (201) wp.org #2 3 Smart Post – Post Grid, Post Carousel, Post Slider Gutenberg Blocks for Blog & News 20K+ · 4.7★ (210) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 My Calendar – Accessible Event Manager 20K+ · 4.7★ (159) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Smash Balloon Social Post Feed – Simple Social Feeds for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (1511) wp.org #11 6 too low 6 Slider, Gallery, and Carousel by MetaSlider – Image Slider, Video Slider 500K+ · 4.6★ (743) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 WP RSS Aggregator – RSS Import, Feed to Post, Autoblogging, AI Content 40K+ · 4.5★ (565) wp.org #13 ↓1 6 too low 8 Editorial Calendar 20K+ · 4.9★ (79) wp.org #10 2 too low 9 Magical Posts Display – Elementor Advanced Posts widgets 3K+ · 4.4★ (10) wp.org #3 6 too high 10 Booking for Appointments and Events Calendar – Amelia 90K+ · 4.6★ (793) wp.org #18 ↑4 8 too low 11 Content Views – Post Grid & Filter (Shortcode, Blocks, Elementor Widgets) 100K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #17 6 too low 12 VS Event List 8K+ · 4.9★ (82) wp.org #15 3 too low 13 W WP Meta and Date Remover 80K+ · 4.2★ (71) wp.org #19 ↓1 6 too low 14 Upcoming Events Lists 900+ · 4.8★ (6) wp.org #8 ↓1 6 too high 15 Random Posts and Pages Widget 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #6 9 too high 16 Event Countdown for The Events Calendar 3K+ · 4.6★ (48) wp.org #24 ↓1 8 too low 17 Display Eventbrite Events 3K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #22 ↓1 5 too low 18 WP Ultimate Post Grid 4K+ · 4.4★ (32) wp.org #20 ↓1 2 too low 19 Revive.so – Bulk Rewrite and Republish Blog Posts 600+ · 4.9★ (22) wp.org #23 ↑1 4 too low 20 Post Timeline 700+ · 4.2★ (21) wp.org #21 ↓1 1 too low 21 T Themify Event Post 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #7 ↑1 14 too high 22 F4 Post Tree 600+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #16 6 too high 23 Scheduled Posts Showcase 30+ · 4.0★ (1) wp.org #12 ↑1 11 too high 24 Upcoming for Calendly 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 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.