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

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 “phonetic”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 of the top 20. 6 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

Cyrillic Permalinks shows at wp.org #2 but places #7 on merit, a gap of 5 places. Its 200+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.7★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

MainWP Dashboard: Self-hosted WordPress Management for Agencies places #3 on merit, 4.9★ from 2354 reviews, but shows at wp.org #11. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Greek Multi Tool 1K+ · 4.6★ (9) thin reviews wp.org #1 2

Voice Audio Widgets – Voice recorder with Forms, AI Powered STT, TTS, Transcriptions, Language Teaching 300+ · 5.0★ (16) thin reviews wp.org #3 1 too low 3

MainWP Dashboard: Self-hosted WordPress Management for Agencies 20K+ · 4.9★ (2354) not PHP-current wp.org #11 8 too low 4

Urdu Keyboard 200+ · 4.5★ (8) closure risk thin reviewsstale but ranked wp.org #4 5

Captcha Them All 5K+ · 4.7★ (15) closure risk thin reviews wp.org #12 7 too low 6

Pinyin Slugs 3K+ · 5.0★ (8) thin reviews wp.org #10 4 too low 7

Cyrillic Permalinks 200+ · 3.7★ (3) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #2 5 too high 8

Sonoquill – AI Podcast Production — · 0.0★ (0) thin reviewslow rating, top placement wp.org #5 3 too high 9

Georgian Hyphenation — · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #6 3 too high 10

OpenSearchServer Search 10+ · 4.2★ (5) closure risk thin reviews wp.org #16 6 too low 11 R Robse Booking — · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #7 4 too high 12

Zesyn Islamic Toolkit — · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #8 4 too high 13

voNavPilot Lite – Voice Navigation & Accessibility — · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #9 4 too high 14 B Bleep Filter 10+ · 5.0★ (3) closure risk thin reviews wp.org #19 5 too low 15

Bangla Fonts Collection 300+ · 5.0★ (2) not PHP-currentclosure risk thin reviews wp.org #13 2 too high 16 L Link to Dictionary Meaning — · 5.0★ (2) closure risk thin reviews wp.org #20 4 too low 17 F furikake 10+ · 0.0★ (0) closure risk thin reviews wp.org #14 3 too high 18

Indian Keyboard 10+ · 0.0★ (0) closure risk thin reviews wp.org #15 3 too high 19 B Bangla Comment 10+ · 0.0★ (0) closure risk thin reviews wp.org #18 1 too high 20 A Armenian Keyboard — · 0.0★ (0) closure risk thin reviews wp.org #21 1 too low 21 B BanglKB 10+ · 5.0★ (1) closure risk thin reviews wp.org #17 4 too high 22 V Virtual Bangla Keyboard 10+ · 0.0★ (0) closure risk thin reviews wp.org #22 23 C Cyr2Lat Slugs 30+ · 4.0★ (1) closure risk thin reviews wp.org #23

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.