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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “user recording”

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 “user recording”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 of the top 20. 3 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

User Supersearch shows at wp.org #9 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 20+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

iubenda | All-in-one Compliance for GDPR / CCPA Cookie Consent + more places #8 on merit, 4.7★ from 397 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Open User Map – Interactive Leaflet Maps 10K+ · 5.0★ (70) wp.org #1 ↑1 2 Video Conferencing with Zoom 10K+ · 4.8★ (217) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 ProfilePress – Paid Membership, Online Courses (LMS), Ecommerce, User Registration & Login Form, User Profile & Restrict Content 100K+ · 3.1★ (938) wp.org #2 ↓1 1 too high 4 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Pixel Manager for WooCommerce – Conversion Tracking, Google Ads, GA4, TikTok, Dynamic Remarketing 40K+ · 4.9★ (399) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 Poptin – Email Marketing Automation, Newsletter & Exit Pop Ups, Email Popups 20K+ · 4.9★ (701) wp.org #11 ↑4 5 too low 7 Independent Analytics – WordPress Analytics Plugin 100K+ · 4.8★ (167) wp.org #13 ↑4 6 too low 8 iubenda | All-in-one Compliance for GDPR / CCPA Cookie Consent + more 200K+ · 4.7★ (397) wp.org #19 ↓1 11 too low 9 Microsoft Clarity 200K+ · 4.5★ (14) wp.org #5 4 too high 10 hCaptcha for WP 70K+ · 4.6★ (88) wp.org #16 ↓5 6 too low 11 Better Messages – Chat Rooms, Group Chat, Private Messages & AI Chat Bots 10K+ · 4.8★ (142) wp.org #21 10 too low 12 Easy Form Builder by WhiteStudio – Drag & Drop Form Builder 1K+ · 5.0★ (70) wp.org #17 ↓3 5 too low 13 StatCounter – Real Time Visitor Stats, Session Replay & Heatmaps 70K+ · 4.2★ (56) wp.org #14 ↓1 1 too low 14 Matomo Analytics – Powerful, Privacy-First Insights for WordPress 100K+ · 4.6★ (178) wp.org #15 ↑8 1 too low 15 WpStream – Live Streaming, Video on Demand, Pay Per View 3K+ · 4.8★ (78) wp.org #18 ↓2 3 too low 16 Sigmize: A/B Testing, Session Recordings, Heatmaps & Revenue Tracking for WooCommerce, SureCart & EDD 5K+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #4 12 too high 17 Activity Logs, User Activity Tracking, Multisite Activity Log from Logtivity 2K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #12 5 too high 18 I Inspectlet – AI-Powered Session Replay, Heatmaps & Analytics 600+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #7 11 too high 19 Duplicate Page or Post 9K+ · 4.0★ (8) wp.org #23 ↓3 4 too low 20 FormFacade – Embed Google Forms in your website 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #22 ↓1 2 too low 21 UXsniff AI-powered Heatmaps and Session Recordings 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #10 11 too high 22 User Supersearch 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 13 too high 23 Reactflow Visitor Recording and Heatmaps 200+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 ↓2 1 too low 24 Nelio Session Recordings 100+ · 1.0★ (1) wp.org #20 ↓1 4 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.