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← Rankings

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

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 update”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

FrontEdit – Live Frontend Block Editor shows at wp.org #12 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 10 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

Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI places #6 on merit, 4.8★ from 27820 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 Chatway Live Chat – AI Chatbot, Customer Support, FAQ & Helpdesk Customer Service & Chat Buttons 30K+ · 5.0★ (775) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Go Live Update Urls 90K+ · 4.5★ (59) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5040) wp.org #3 4 Tidio – Live Chat & AI Chatbots 70K+ · 4.8★ (395) wp.org #4 5 3CX Free Live Chat, Calls & Messaging 100K+ · 4.6★ (820) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27820) wp.org #13 7 too low 7 SearchWP Live Ajax Search 40K+ · 4.7★ (36) wp.org #5 2 too high 8 Smartsupp – live chat, AI shopping assistant and chatbots 20K+ · 4.7★ (131) wp.org #9 1 too low 9 Tawk.To Live Chat 100K+ · 4.6★ (142) wp.org #10 ↓2 1 too low 10 Live Chat by Formilla – Real-time Chat & Chatbots Plugin 2K+ · 4.8★ (116) wp.org #11 1 too low 11 Live Composer – Free WordPress Website Builder 10K+ · 4.4★ (212) wp.org #14 3 too low 12 LiveChat – Live Chat Plugin for WP Websites 10K+ · 4.6★ (98) wp.org #15 3 too low 13 Ajax Search Lite – Live Search & Filter 70K+ · 4.8★ (266) wp.org #20 7 too low 14 Modular DS: Monitor, update, and backup multiple websites 40K+ · 5.0★ (133) wp.org #22 ↑2 8 too low 15 Relevanssi Live Ajax Search 7K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #8 ↓1 7 too high 16 Content Update Scheduler 2K+ · 4.3★ (12) wp.org #7 ↑3 9 too high 17 Live Summary for Gravity Forms 1K+ · 5.0★ (18) wp.org #17 18 Chatra Live Chat + ChatBot + Cart Saver 2K+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #18 19 HelpCrunch – Live Chat, Chatbot & Knowledge Base for Customer Service 2K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #21 ↓1 2 too low 20 ProScores – Live Scores 800+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #16 4 too high 21 Disable Updates for WordPress Core, Plugins and Themes 9K+ · 4.8★ (4) wp.org #23 2 too low 22 FrontEdit – Live Frontend Block Editor 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #12 10 too high 23 Live Carts for WooCommerce: Track Active, Abandoned, and Converted Carts & Wishlists in Real Time! 900+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 Live Copy Paste for Elementor – Cross Domain Copy Paste & Page Duplicator 6K+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #19 5 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.