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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “web speech”

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 “web speech”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 2 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

Easy Text-to-Speech shows at wp.org #9 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 20+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Accessibility Widget by OneTap – Easy One-Click Accessibility Toolbar places #8 on merit, 4.9★ from 80 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 ResponsiveVoice Text To Speech 7K+ · 3.9★ (34) wp.org #1 2 Text To Speech TTS Accessibility 4K+ · 4.8★ (92) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too low 3 GSpeech TTS – WordPress Text To Speech Plugin 3K+ · 4.8★ (178) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Text to Speech – TTSWP 200+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #2 ↑1 2 too high 5 Screen Reader Accessibility – WCAG, Text-to-Speech & AI Accessibility Fixes 600+ · 4.8★ (31) wp.org #5 6 AI Puffer – AI Chatbot & MCP Server for Claude and ChatGPT 10K+ · 4.6★ (166) wp.org #10 4 too low 7 Text to Speech – Reinvent WP 40+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 Accessibility Widget by OneTap – Easy One-Click Accessibility Toolbar 60K+ · 4.9★ (80) wp.org #17 9 too low 9 Magic Login – Magic Link & Passwordless Authentication for WordPress – Login Without Password 3K+ · 4.8★ (26) wp.org #14 5 too low 10 SiteNarrator Text-to-Speech Widget 800+ · 4.1★ (9) wp.org #7 3 too high 11 Yandex Metrica 20K+ · 3.8★ (33) wp.org #11 12 Simply Disable Comments 8K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #8 4 too high 13 AxiaChat AI – Free AI Chatbot (Answers Customers Automatically) 500+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #23 10 too low 14 Simple Ebook Viewer 400+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #24 10 too low 15 Web accessibility widget by tabnav 300+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #12 3 too high 16 Web Accessibility with Max Access 700+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #16 17 Easy Text-to-Speech 20+ · 4.0★ (3) wp.org #9 8 too high 18 Compressed Emoji 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #18 19 Security.txt Manager 700+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #13 6 too high 20 W WP WDFY Integration of Wodify 90+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #22 2 too low 21 Unagi 800+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 6 too high 22 AI Provider for OpenAI 60K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 3 too high 23 Sahajanand Post to Speech — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 2 too high 24 Plug-N-Meet web conference integration 100+ · 3.5★ (2) wp.org #20 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.