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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “year planner”

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 “year planner”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

Scrumptious – Recipe Cards shows at wp.org #9 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 400+ 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

GEO Plugin by Squirrly SEO places #5 on merit, 4.6★ from 683 reviews, but shows at wp.org #13. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #1 2 PublishPress Planner – Editorial Calendar, Marketing Content, Kanban Board 6K+ · 4.9★ (178) wp.org #2 3 Schedule Post Changes With PublishPress Future: Unpublish, Delete, Change Status, Trash, Change Categories 100K+ · 4.5★ (172) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 WP Recipe Maker 50K+ · 5.0★ (356) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too low 5 GEO Plugin by Squirrly SEO 30K+ · 4.6★ (683) wp.org #13 8 too low 6 WP Event Manager – Events Calendar, Registrations, Sell Tickets with WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.0★ (249) wp.org #10 ↑1 4 too low 7 Comment Experience by Progress Planner 500+ · 3.5★ (13) wp.org #4 ↑1 3 too high 8 Bulk Page Generator – LPagery 3K+ · 5.0★ (31) wp.org #12 ↑2 4 too low 9 Calendar.online / Kalender.digital – Plugin 2K+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #7 ↑1 2 too high 10 Taskbuilder – Project Management & Task Management Tool With Kanban Board 700+ · 4.7★ (7) wp.org #11 ↑1 1 too low 11 MDJM Event Management 40+ · 4.9★ (10) wp.org #16 ↑1 5 too low 12 RightBlogger – AI SEO Agent & Autoblogging 600+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #8 ↑1 4 too high 13 Order Limit for WooCommerce (Free Version) 800+ · 4.2★ (13) wp.org #17 ↑1 4 too low 14 Planly 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #6 ↑1 8 too high 15 AI ChatBot for WordPress by AI BotKit – Live in 2 Minutes, No Code 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #15 ↑1 16 TS Team Members Showcase 10+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #24 8 too low 17 Rixden Quote Builder 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #18 ↑1 1 too low 18 Scrumptious – Recipe Cards 400+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 ↑1 9 too high 19 Desk9 Notice Planner – Announcement Bar & Scheduler — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↑1 5 too high 20 BotPenguin – Generative AI Chatbot with Live Chat & ChatGPT 600+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↑1 1 too high 21 SEOBot AI – SEO Automation, Content Optimizer & Internal Linking — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↑1 1 too high 22 ambera Theme Builder 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↑1 1 too high 23 Relayout Designs 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 ↑1 1 too high 24 Appointly 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↑1 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.