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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “realtime database”

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 “realtime database”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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 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

WDOnline Live Visitor Monitor shows at wp.org #10 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 10+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

iQ Block Country places #11 on merit, 3.9★ from 166 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 AI Engine – MCP Server & AI Chatbot for WordPress, with Claude, ChatGPT & Gemini 90K+ · 4.9★ (874) wp.org #1 2 Better Messages – Chat Rooms, Group Chat, Private Messages & AI Chat Bots 10K+ · 4.8★ (142) wp.org #2 3 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Malcure Malware Shield — Removal, Repair, Monitor 10K+ · 4.4★ (74) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Kadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection 700K+ · 4.6★ (3992) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 WP Server Health Stats 9K+ · 4.8★ (110) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 AI Puffer – AI Chatbot & MCP Server for Claude and ChatGPT 10K+ · 4.6★ (166) wp.org #7 8 MultiVendorX – WooCommerce Multivendor Marketplace AI Powered Solutions 2K+ · 4.8★ (432) wp.org #9 1 too low 9 ProfileGrid – User Profiles, Groups and Communities 5K+ · 4.6★ (236) wp.org #15 ↑2 6 too low 10 WPSpeed – WordPress Speed, Cache & Performance Optimization (Core Web Vitals, PageSpeed 100) 2K+ · 4.9★ (40) wp.org #14 4 too low 11 iQ Block Country 20K+ · 3.9★ (166) wp.org #18 ↑1 7 too low 12 Graphina – Charts and Graphs For Elementor 9K+ · 4.1★ (16) wp.org #8 4 too high 13 Disqus Comment System 30K+ · 2.7★ (219) wp.org #12 ↑1 1 too high 14 FluentCommunity – Ultra-Fast High-Performance Social Network, Community, LMS & Online Courses 8K+ · 4.8★ (96) wp.org #22 ↑1 8 too low 15 Textmetrics 400+ · 4.3★ (7) wp.org #11 4 too high 16 BuddyPress Favorite Notification 80+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #16 17 Promolayer – Popup Builder & Abandonment Preventer 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #17 ↑1 18 Opti-Behavior – Self-Hosted Heatmaps, Funnels, A/B Testing & Smart Insights 1K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #24 6 too low 19 News Kit Addons For Elementor 3K+ · 3.6★ (5) wp.org #13 ↑2 6 too high 20 KolorWeb Log Manager: cleaver debugging management 50+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #20 ↑2 21 WDOnline Live Visitor Monitor 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 11 too high 22 ShopMagic for Google Sheets 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #23 1 too low 23 UV Realtime Crypto Dashboard — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 ↑1 4 too high 24 Init Chat Engine – Real-Time, Community, Extensible 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 3 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.