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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “ip camera”

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 “ip camera”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

Photo Sphere Viewer – 360° Virtual Tour, Panorama, 360 Video & AR 3D Viewer shows at wp.org #10 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 600+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.5★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

How this rank is calculated

Each plugin's merit score multiplies these inputs together: how recently it was updated, how current its "tested up to" WordPress version is, its install base (log scale, capped at 10 million), its support thread resolution rate, and a rating score. The rating score weights the star average by review volume against a sitewide prior, then scales it by the lower bound of the share of 4 and 5 star reviews. A plugin with 3.7 stars from tens of thousands of reviews can still outscore a 4.9 with a few dozen, because the small sample carries less certainty.

A health factor between 0.4 and 1.15 then adjusts that score for what wp.org's search can't see: PHP fatals or failed activations on a test install, PHP and WordPress compatibility, memory and page-speed footprint, suspicious review patterns, closure risk, and a large install base with very few reviews. Clean, adopted plugins earn a small lift.

A keyword ranking starts from wp.org's search order for the term, weighting each position by 1 divided by its place, then applies the merit correction and health factor above. Relevance to the keyword stays in the result, so the order can differ from the all-categories list on /best, which scores plugins with no search term.

Hover a row to see the main reason for its position.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Advanced IP Blocker 3K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #1 2 Better Messages – Chat Rooms, Group Chat, Private Messages & AI Chat Bots 10K+ · 4.8★ (142) wp.org #5 3 too low 3 Wise Chat 4K+ · 4.4★ (105) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 3K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Broadcast Live Video – Live Streaming : WebRTC, HLS, RTSP, RTMP 400+ · 2.7★ (14) wp.org #2 3 too high 6 Event Tickets with Ticket Scanner 1K+ · 4.8★ (24) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 Serial Codes Generator and Validator with WooCommerce Support 700+ · 4.6★ (13) wp.org #16 ↓2 9 too low 8 Paid Videochat Turnkey Site – HTML5 PPV Live Webcams 10+ · 4.2★ (22) wp.org #19 ↓4 11 too low 9 Erdo Image Optimizer – Image SEO, AI Alt Text, Media Cleanup, WebP & AVIF 30+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #7 2 too high 10 Wedding RSVP – Wedding Guest List, Meal Choices & RSVP Tracker 100+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #12 2 too low 11 Yandex Maps for Gutenberg 300+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #6 5 too high 12 HeySpark – Live Chat and Call Now Plugin 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #9 3 too high 13 Admin Safety Guard — Login Security, Limit Logins, 2FA & Brute Force Protection 20+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #22 ↓3 9 too low 14 My Trail Camera — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 3 too high 15 Picture Gallery – Frontend Uploads & Image Editor 400+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #15 ↓10 16 Uplink Media Bridge for Etch 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #20 4 too low 17 3D Viewer – 3D Model Viewer – Augmented Reality – Virtual Try On 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #21 ↓3 4 too low 18 Security Hardener 200+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 ↑3 5 too high 19 FormsKit Lite – Drag & Drop Form Builder, Contact Form & Survey 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 ↓7 2 too high 20 Unlimited Photos – Unsplash images 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 ↓1 6 too high 21 Photo Sphere Viewer – 360° Virtual Tour, Panorama, 360 Video & AR 3D Viewer 600+ · 3.5★ (2) wp.org #10 ↓3 11 too high 22 VSW – Visual Search for WooCommerce 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↓2 1 too low 23 Zamok – Security and Site Tools 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 ↓1 5 too high 24 Customer Cloud Gallery – Google Drive & Dropbox Image Gallery 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24

Merit ranking caps the install boost at 10M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted 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.