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

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 “live ip”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 3 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

GranTech IP Firewall for AbuseIPDB shows at wp.org #7 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 50+ 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

Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner places #11 on merit, 4.7★ from 1668 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5038) wp.org #2 ↓1 1 too low 2 Advanced IP Blocker 3K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #1 ↑1 1 too high 3 3CX Free Live Chat, Calls & Messaging 100K+ · 4.6★ (820) wp.org #3 4 Live Chat by Formilla – Real-time Chat & Chatbots Plugin 2K+ · 4.8★ (116) wp.org #4 5 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #8 ↓2 2 too low 7 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #13 ↓1 6 too low 8 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #17 ↓7 9 too low 9 WPBot – AI ChatBot for Live Support, Lead Generation, WordPress Automation, AI Services 5K+ · 4.7★ (124) wp.org #9 10 Loginizer 1M+ · 4.8★ (1033) wp.org #14 ↑3 4 too low 11 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1668) wp.org #21 10 too low 12 WP Statistics – Simple, privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative 500K+ · 4.1★ (759) wp.org #19 ↓1 7 too low 13 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #24 11 too low 14 FlexTable – Data Table Sync with Google Sheets 3K+ · 4.6★ (35) wp.org #15 1 too low 15 Live Carts for WooCommerce: Track Active, Abandoned, and Converted Carts & Wishlists in Real Time! 900+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #5 10 too high 16 Buttonizer – Live Chat, AI Chatbot, Call, Chat, Contact Button 50K+ · 5.0★ (23) wp.org #16 ↓3 17 Web-Stat – Live Visitor Analytics 5K+ · 4.4★ (20) wp.org #18 ↓4 1 too low 18 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #23 5 too low 19 Easy MCP AI – Connect Claude to WordPress: MCP Server for ChatGPT & AI Agents 30K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #20 ↓1 1 too low 20 Chatroll Live Chat 200+ · 4.0★ (5) wp.org #10 ↓3 10 too high 21 GranTech IP Firewall for AbuseIPDB 50+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #7 ↑4 14 too high 22 Broadcast Live Video – Live Streaming : WebRTC, HLS, RTSP, RTMP 400+ · 2.7★ (14) wp.org #12 ↓3 10 too high 23 IP Address Widget II 100+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #11 ↓3 12 too high 24 Live Traffic Analytics – Real-Time Visitor & Bot Tracking – Google Analytics Alternative 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 ↓6 2 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.