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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “microphone”

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 “microphone”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 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

Plug-N-Meet web conference integration shows at wp.org #13 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 100+ 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 3K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Easy Form Builder by WhiteStudio – Drag & Drop Form Builder 1K+ · 5.0★ (70) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too low 3 Category AJAX Filter – Posts, Custom Post Types & Product Filter 6K+ · 4.9★ (158) wp.org #6 ↓1 3 too low 4 Voice Audio Widgets – Voice recorder with Forms, AI Powered STT, TTS, Transcriptions, Language Teaching 300+ · 5.0★ (16) wp.org #9 5 too low 5 Online Forms — Customizable Payment, Contact, Quiz, Survey Form Builder – Jotform 20K+ · 3.2★ (29) wp.org #7 ↑1 2 too low 6 Easy Voice Mail 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too high 7 RepairBuddy – Repair Shop CRM & Booking Plugin for WordPress 400+ · 4.9★ (24) wp.org #15 8 too low 8 Webcam Microphone Screen Recorder – Media Capture 30+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #1 7 too high 9 BuddyMeet 600+ · 4.7★ (14) wp.org #14 5 too low 10 Webcam/Screen/Mic Recorder for Video Comments and Forms 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #4 ↓1 6 too high 11 Instant Search – Turn Search Into Sales 60+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #8 ↓1 3 too high 12 Admin Safety Guard — Login Security, Limit Logins, 2FA & Brute Force Protection 20+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #22 ↑1 10 too low 13 Castio.live – WordPress Streaming Plugin with Chat (HLS) 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #19 6 too low 14 BaseCloud Security Manager 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #20 6 too low 15 PressGo AI — Landing Page & Website Builder for Elementor 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 4 too high 16 Screen Sharing System 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 4 too high 17 Security Hardener 200+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 1 too high 18 Audio Editor & Recorder 100+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #10 8 too high 19 SFR Talk Recorder 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 2 too low 20 Zanderio AI 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 3 too high 21 Contact Forms, Live Support, CRM, Video Messages 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 3 too high 22 TCE Assignments Tools — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 Plug-N-Meet web conference integration 100+ · 3.5★ (2) wp.org #13 10 too high 24 TalkToPC Voice Widget — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 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.