Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “administrator”

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 “administrator”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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

Readministrator (Read Only Administrator) shows at wp.org #7 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 70+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Asset CleanUp: Page Speed Booster places #11 on merit, 4.9★ from 1564 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. 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 #1 2 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 Classic Editor 8M+ · 4.9★ (1251) wp.org #5 ↑1 2 too low 4 U Use Administrator Password 800+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #2 2 too high 5 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 Maintenance 1M+ · 4.4★ (869) wp.org #6 ↑1 7 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #10 ↓5 3 too low 8 WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470) wp.org #12 ↑1 4 too low 9 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #11 ↓2 2 too low 10 Administrator Z 300+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #3 7 too high 11 Asset CleanUp: Page Speed Booster 100K+ · 4.9★ (1564) wp.org #21 ↓4 10 too low 12 Disable Comments 1M+ · 4.7★ (281) wp.org #19 7 too low 13 Admin Menu Editor 300K+ · 4.6★ (312) wp.org #24 ↓5 11 too low 14 Activity Log – Monitor User and Agent Changes 200K+ · 4.3★ (74) wp.org #16 2 too low 15 User Admin Simplifier 10K+ · 5.0★ (31) wp.org #18 ↑4 3 too low 16 NinjaFirewall (WP Edition) – Advanced Security Plugin and Firewall 100K+ · 4.9★ (220) wp.org #20 ↓4 4 too low 17 CF7 Apps – Addons for Contact Form 7 (Honeypot, Database, Redirection, Webhook, etc.) 300K+ · 3.8★ (135) wp.org #14 3 too high 18 Disable Comments 100K+ · 3.8★ (25) wp.org #15 ↑6 3 too high 19 Simple Discount Rules for Woocommerce 4K+ · 4.6★ (73) wp.org #22 ↓8 3 too low 20 L Login rebuilder 20K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #17 ↓2 3 too high 21 Hostinger Tools 3M+ · 3.5★ (40) wp.org #13 ↓1 8 too high 22 AdminPad 800+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #23 1 too low 23 Readministrator (Read Only Administrator) 70+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 ↑4 16 too high 24 Change Administrator Email Address 600+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 ↑1 15 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.