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

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 governance”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

GovernDocs Document Management – Agenda, Minutes, Meetings, Reports & more shows at wp.org #3 but places #9 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 100+ 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

GDPR places #7 on merit, 4.3★ from 58 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 Advanced Access Manager – Access Governance for WordPress 100K+ · 4.2★ (420) wp.org #1 2 Better Robots.txt – AI-Ready Crawl Control & Bot Governance 5K+ · 4.5★ (102) wp.org #2 3 Custom Post Type UI 1M+ · 4.6★ (276) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too low 4 Bulk Auto Image Alt Text (Alt tag, Alt attribute) optimizer (image SEO) 10K+ · 4.2★ (111) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Trusty Whistleblowing Solution 400+ · 5.0★ (15) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 PowerBI Embed Reports 500+ · 5.0★ (23) wp.org #10 4 too low 7 GDPR 10K+ · 4.3★ (58) wp.org #13 6 too low 8 Secure MCP Server for Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and other AI providers 4K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #11 3 too low 9 GovernDocs Document Management – Agenda, Minutes, Meetings, Reports & more 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #3 ↑1 6 too high 10 Auto Focus Keyword for SEO 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #6 4 too high 11 Automatic Internal Links for SEO by Pagup 1K+ · 3.0★ (8) wp.org #9 2 too high 12 Agent Abilities for MCP – MCP Server with Permission Controls and Audit Log 300+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #15 ↑1 3 too low 13 CardanoPress – Governance for Cardano 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 6 too high 14 ControlPact Governance — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 2 too high 15 Nonprofit Board Management 100+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #16 ↓1 1 too low 16 Npcink Governance Core — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 2 too high 17 Mikesoft TeamVault 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 1 too low 18 Multigovernance — Multi-user site, role-based permissions for blocks and settings — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 1 too low 19 HandL AI Connector Access Control — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 1 too low 20 FileDeck – Document Library & Download Manager 90+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 3 too high 21 MegaGovern Free — AI Transparency Labels & Registry 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 1 too low 22 P PillarShield — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↓1 1 too low 23 C ClaimPrism — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 ↓1 1 too low 24 ProRank SEO 10+ · 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.