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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “access gate”

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 “access gate”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

VelvetGate – A Luxury-Style Age Gate shows at wp.org #6 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 14 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

The Plus Addons for Elementor – Mega Menu, Header Footer, Post Grid, AI Widgets & Templates places #5 on merit, 4.6★ from 388 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Age Gate 40K+ · 4.6★ (64) wp.org #1 2 Download Monitor 80K+ · 4.5★ (525) wp.org #2 3 WPVibe – MCP Server for WordPress, works with Claude, ChatGPT & other AI MCP agents 100K+ · 5.0★ (199) wp.org #8 5 too low 4 MemberSpace – Sell community access, content, online courses, memberships and paid subscriptions 200+ · 4.3★ (12) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 The Plus Addons for Elementor – Mega Menu, Header Footer, Post Grid, AI Widgets & Templates 100K+ · 4.6★ (388) wp.org #23 ↑1 18 too low 6 Click to Chat – HoliThemes 600K+ · 4.8★ (131) wp.org #17 11 too low 7 BetterLinks – Link Shortener, Link Cloaking, Redirects, Affiliate Link Manager & MCP 20K+ · 4.8★ (85) wp.org #19 ↓1 12 too low 8 Document Embedder – let visitors read files without downloading 9K+ · 4.9★ (120) wp.org #21 13 too low 9 WP-DBManager 50K+ · 4.4★ (95) wp.org #22 13 too low 10 Intranet & Private Site – All-In-One Intranet 3K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #11 1 too low 11 ActiveLayer Anti-Spam: Spam Protection for Forms & Comments 10K+ · 4.9★ (10) wp.org #12 1 too low 12 Patreon WordPress 3K+ · 3.4★ (55) wp.org #18 ↑1 6 too low 13 Subscriptions for WooCommerce Recurring Payments with Membership Content Restriction 500+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #14 ↑1 1 too low 14 Advanced Age Verification Popup 700+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #9 5 too high 15 AB Age Gate 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #3 12 too high 16 Restrictions for BuddyPress 300+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #16 17 Absoluto Access Gate — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #4 13 too high 18 Open Access SSO 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 11 too high 19 Landing Page Cat – Coming Soon & Maintenance Pages 600+ · 4.2★ (6) wp.org #24 5 too low 20 VelvetGate – A Luxury-Style Age Gate 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 14 too high 21 ALD Login Page 30+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #13 8 too high 22 SureMembers – Membership & Content Restriction Plugin 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 ↓1 7 too high 23 Limited Admin Menu Access by URLs 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 13 too high 24 Supracorona Login Gate 10+ · 0.0★ (0) 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.