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

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 “speaking”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 of the top 20. 5 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

immonex Kickstart Team shows at wp.org #5 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 300+ 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

GSpeech TTS – WordPress Text To Speech Plugin places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 178 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 SMTP2GO for WordPress – Email Made Easy 40K+ · 5.0★ (67) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Category AJAX Filter – Posts, Custom Post Types & Product Filter 6K+ · 4.9★ (158) wp.org #8 6 too low 3 Voice Audio Widgets – Voice recorder with Forms, AI Powered STT, TTS, Transcriptions, Language Teaching 300+ · 5.0★ (16) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Fluid Checkout for WooCommerce – Lite 20K+ · 4.9★ (159) wp.org #13 9 too low 5 WPConsent – Cookie Banner & Cookie Consent for Privacy Compliance (GDPR / CCPA / EU Compliance Cookie Notice) 200K+ · 4.8★ (84) wp.org #10 5 too low 6 WP Server Health Stats 9K+ · 4.8★ (110) wp.org #11 5 too low 7 Calendar.online / Kalender.digital – Plugin 2K+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #3 4 too high 8 Live Chat by Formilla – Real-time Chat & Chatbots Plugin 2K+ · 4.8★ (116) wp.org #12 4 too low 9 Buttonizer – Social Media Share Buttons, Social Icons, & Social Feeds 40K+ · 4.8★ (396) wp.org #14 5 too low 10 GSpeech TTS – WordPress Text To Speech Plugin 3K+ · 4.8★ (178) wp.org #20 10 too low 11 eRecht24 Legal Texts 50K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #1 10 too high 12 Text To Speech TTS Accessibility 4K+ · 4.8★ (92) wp.org #19 7 too low 13 Buttonizer – Floating Menus, Sticky Buttons, & Popup Builder 70K+ · 4.5★ (151) wp.org #15 2 too low 14 immonex Kickstart 300+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #6 8 too high 15 RSVPMaker 200+ · 4.6★ (11) wp.org #7 8 too high 16 Promolayer – Popup Builder & Abandonment Preventer 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #9 7 too high 17 Buttonizer – Live Chat, AI Chatbot, Call, Chat, Contact Button 50K+ · 5.0★ (23) wp.org #17 18 Additional Custom Emails & Recipients for WooCommerce 2K+ · 5.0★ (18) wp.org #16 2 too high 19 WC Affiliate – WooCommerce Affiliate Plugin 300+ · 4.6★ (16) wp.org #24 5 too low 20 immonex Kickstart Team 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #5 15 too high 21 ReplyBox – Better WordPress Comments 60+ · 4.8★ (6) wp.org #21 22 Store Locator Widget 300+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #18 4 too high 23 Speaking Events — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 1 too high 24 ingenidev, Morocco – MAD Currency Symbol Changer | مغير رمز عملة الدرهم المغربي 100+ · 0.0★ (0) 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.