Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “admin audit”

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 “admin audit”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

Admin login URL Change shows at wp.org #6 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 5209 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 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Simple History – Track, Log, and Audit WordPress Changes 300K+ · 4.9★ (491) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too low 3 WP Activity Log 300K+ · 4.7★ (490) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too low 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 #5 1 too low 5 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #7 ↑2 2 too low 6 WP Admin Audit 1K+ · 3.7★ (6) wp.org #1 5 too high 7 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #13 ↑1 6 too low 8 Stream – Activity Log & Audit Trail 70K+ · 4.3★ (76) wp.org #8 ↑2 9 Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (397) wp.org #14 ↑2 5 too low 10 Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) wp.org #11 ↓5 1 too low 11 WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More 4M+ · 4.8★ (5209) wp.org #19 ↑1 8 too low 12 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #18 ↑1 6 too low 13 Easy MCP AI – Connect Claude to WordPress: MCP Server for ChatGPT & AI Agents 30K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #9 ↑3 4 too high 14 WPVibe – MCP Server for WordPress, works with Claude, ChatGPT & other AI MCP agents 100K+ · 5.0★ (199) wp.org #23 ↓2 9 too low 15 Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 3K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #12 ↑1 3 too high 16 Admin login URL Change 2K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #6 ↑2 10 too high 17 Advanced IP Blocker 3K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #21 4 too low 18 Lockora Security Audit 200+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #10 ↑1 8 too high 19 phpinfo() WP – Site Health, PHP Compatibility & Server Audit 3K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #17 ↑1 2 too high 20 Agent Abilities for MCP – Connect Claude and ChatGPT with Permission Controls and Audit Log 800+ · 4.8★ (5) wp.org #15 5 too high 21 Double Youpï Refined Admin Dashboard – Admin Theme with Dark Mode & Media Folders 70+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #20 1 too high 22 Alt Audit – Bulk Alt Text Manager & Image SEO 90+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↑1 6 too high 23 Slug Search and Admin Columns 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 ↑1 1 too high 24 Smart Admin Assistant 200+ · 3.3★ (3) wp.org #24

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.