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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “facial recognition”

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 “facial recognition”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 4 of the top 16. 1 plugin is 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) wp.org #1 2 Defender Security – Malware Scanner, Login Security & Firewall 80K+ · 4.8★ (334) wp.org #2 3 Identity Verification for WooCommerce 100+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #6 ↑1 3 too low 4 Capsquery Facial Authentication 10+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 iDenfy | Identity verification service 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too high 6 Facial Recognition Authentication — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too high 7 iDenfy for WooCommerce 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 ↑1 8 Konfirmi Plugin 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #12 ↑1 4 too low 9 FiD Facial Recognition Admin Login — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 ↑1 1 too high 10 M Media Picker for Immich 40+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #14 ↑1 4 too low 11 JMPG Face Match for Photographers — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 ↑1 2 too high 12 Borderage Core — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 ↑1 2 too high 13 ASD Passkey Login — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 ↑1 2 too high 14 IronPhantom Fraud Defense 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 ↓11 1 too low 15 AgeVerify by Inverite 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 1 too low 16 AwareID – Biometric Identity Authentication 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 ↑1 3 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.