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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “tawk.to”

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 “tawk.to”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 4 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

Customize Tawk.to Widget shows at wp.org #5 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 400+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Buttonizer – Floating Menus, Sticky Buttons, & Popup Builder places #9 on merit, 4.5★ from 151 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 Tawk.To Live Chat 100K+ · 4.6★ (142) wp.org #1 2 Floating Chat Widget: Contact Chat Icons, Telegram Chat, Line Messenger, WeChat, Email, SMS, Call Button – Chaty 300K+ · 5.0★ (1244) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Landingi Landing Pages 2K+ · 5.0★ (20) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Advanced Form Integration — Connect Forms to 300+ Apps 9K+ · 4.8★ (91) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 NitroPack – Performance, Page Speed & Cache Plugin for Core Web Vitals, CDN & Image Optimization 90K+ · 4.3★ (311) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 Xagio SEO & AEO – AI SEO for Google Rankings & AI Visibility 10K+ · 4.9★ (51) wp.org #4 2 too high 7 Chat Widget: Floating Customer Support Button for 30+ Channels, Supporting SMS, Calls, and Chat – Bit Assist 9K+ · 4.9★ (111) wp.org #9 2 too low 8 Buttonizer – Social Media Share Buttons, Social Icons, & Social Feeds 40K+ · 4.8★ (396) wp.org #11 3 too low 9 Buttonizer – Floating Menus, Sticky Buttons, & Popup Builder 70K+ · 4.5★ (151) wp.org #13 4 too low 10 Header Footer Script Adder 1K+ · 4.1★ (7) wp.org #7 3 too high 11 Buttonizer – Live Chat, AI Chatbot, Call, Chat, Contact Button 50K+ · 5.0★ (23) wp.org #15 4 too low 12 Chatbot for WordPress by Collect.chat ⚡️ 6K+ · 4.4★ (38) wp.org #17 5 too low 13 CookieBoxs – GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent & Google Consent Mode v2 200+ · 4.4★ (5) wp.org #10 3 too high 14 All-in-one Chat Button by anychat.one 900+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #12 2 too high 15 Lock My Site 60+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #20 5 too low 16 Optimazz – Website Optimization and Speedup 30+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #22 6 too low 17 EU AI Act Ready 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #19 2 too low 18 Customize Tawk.to Widget 400+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #5 13 too high 19 GhostChat – Live Chat, AI Chatbot & Customer Support 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #23 4 too low 20 WPChat – Live Chat & Messaging Widget for Customer Support 6K+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #18 2 too high 21 EchBay Live Chat 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 7 too high 22 AIO Tools (All in One Tools) 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 6 too high 23 ToolPress : All Your WordPress Tools in One Place — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 HUMN-1 AI Website Scanner & Human Certification by Winston AI 20+ · 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.