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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “age protect”

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 “age protect”, we and wp.org disagree 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

AgeOnce Age Verification for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #9 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 10+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

iubenda | All-in-one Compliance for GDPR / CCPA Cookie Consent + more places #7 on merit, 4.7★ from 397 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Limit Login Attempts Security – Login Security, 2FA, Firewall, Brute Force Prevention 1M+ · 4.8★ (1488) wp.org #3 2 too low 2 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 Age Gate Lite 2K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 404 to 301 – Redirect Manager, 301 Redirection, 404 Error Logs & 404 Monitoring 100K+ · 4.7★ (321) wp.org #8 4 too low 5 Sucuri Security – Auditing, Malware Scanner and Security Hardening 600K+ · 4.2★ (386) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Spam Protection | Maspik 30K+ · 4.7★ (87) wp.org #10 4 too low 7 iubenda | All-in-one Compliance for GDPR / CCPA Cookie Consent + more 200K+ · 4.7★ (397) wp.org #16 9 too low 8 EventPrime – Events Calendar, Bookings, Tickets & AI 7K+ · 4.4★ (85) wp.org #7 1 too high 9 Advanced Age Verification Popup 700+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #2 7 too high 10 The Plus Addons for Elementor – Mega Menu, Header Footer, Post Grid, AI Widgets & Templates 100K+ · 4.6★ (388) wp.org #18 8 too low 11 WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (583) wp.org #5 6 too high 12 Gallery by Visual Portfolio 60K+ · 4.8★ (340) wp.org #21 9 too low 13 FAZ Cookie Manager 3K+ · 5.0★ (30) wp.org #12 1 too high 14 Headers Security Advanced & HSTS WP 90K+ · 4.8★ (80) wp.org #19 5 too low 15 s2Member – Excellent for All Kinds of Memberships, Content Restriction Paywalls & Member Access Subscriptions 8K+ · 4.1★ (234) wp.org #15 16 Melapress Login Security 3K+ · 4.8★ (20) wp.org #13 3 too high 17 ActiveLayer Anti-Spam: Spam Protection for Forms & Comments 10K+ · 4.9★ (10) wp.org #14 3 too high 18 AdFlow – Ad Inserter & Ad Manager: AdSense, Banner Ads & ads.txt 3K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #11 7 too high 19 Captcha.eu 300+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #22 3 too low 20 Bot Traffic Shield – Block Bad Bots and Stop AI Bots Crawlers 800+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #23 3 too low 21 AgeOnce Age Verification for WooCommerce 10+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #9 12 too high 22 Product Disclaimer For WooCommerce 80+ · 3.0★ (6) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 Instant Back/Forward 10K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 6 too high 24 XYZ Age Verification — · 5.0★ (1) 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.