wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “ajax login registration”
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 “ajax login registration”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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
FluentAuth – Login Security, Two-Factor Authentication, Passkeys & Social Login shows at wp.org #17 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.1★ average from 36 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
How this rank is calculated
Each plugin's merit score multiplies these inputs together: how recently it was updated, how current its "tested up to" WordPress version is, its install base (log scale, capped at 10 million), its support thread resolution rate, and a rating score. The rating score weights the star average by review volume against a sitewide prior, then scales it by the lower bound of the share of 4 and 5 star reviews. A plugin with 3.7 stars from tens of thousands of reviews can still outscore a 4.9 with a few dozen, because the small sample carries less certainty.
A health factor between 0.4 and 1.15 then adjusts that score for what wp.org's search can't see: PHP fatals or failed activations on a test install, PHP and WordPress compatibility, memory and page-speed footprint, suspicious review patterns, closure risk, and a large install base with very few reviews. Clean, adopted plugins earn a small lift.
A keyword ranking starts from wp.org's search order for the term, weighting each position by 1 divided by its place, then applies the merit correction and health factor above. Relevance to the keyword stays in the result, so the order can differ from the all-categories list on /best, which scores plugins with no search term.
Hover a row to see the main reason for its position.
Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5,043)
wp.org #1 2 
Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1,445)
wp.org #2 3 
User Registration & Membership – Free & Paid Memberships, Subscriptions, Content Restriction, User Profile, Custom User Registration & Login Builder 50K+ · 4.8★ (832)
wp.org #4 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 4 
Login With Ajax – Fast Logins, 2FA, Redirects 10K+ · 4.6★ (167)
wp.org #3 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 5 
WPS Hide Login 2M+ · 4.8★ (2,111)
wp.org #5 6 
User Profile Builder – Beautiful User Registration Forms, User Profiles & User Role Editor 40K+ · 4.7★ (738)
wp.org #7 ↑2 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 7 
Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3,224)
wp.org #9 ↑1 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 8 
AJAX Login and Registration modal popup + inline form 3K+ · 4.7★ (120)
wp.org #6 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 9 
RegistrationMagic – Custom Registration Forms, User Registration, Payment, and User Login 7K+ · 4.5★ (459)
wp.org #10 ↑1 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 10 
Login & Register Customizer – Forms, Popup, Profile & WooCommerce 30K+ · 4.8★ (254)
wp.org #12 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 11 
All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1,720)
wp.org #13 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 12 
Event Tickets and Registration 90K+ · 3.5★ (236)
wp.org #8 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 4 places above merit 13 
Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2,147)
wp.org #18 ↓4 wp.org ranks it 5 places below merit 14 
Theme My Login 50K+ · 3.7★ (460)
wp.org #11 ↓3 wp.org ranks it 3 places above merit 15 
Custom Login Page Customizer 50K+ · 4.9★ (477)
wp.org #19 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 4 places below merit 16 
WPBruiser Security – No CAPTCHA Anti-Spam & Login Protection 10K+ · 4.6★ (213)
wp.org #16 ↓1 17 
Clean Login 5K+ · 4.7★ (144)
wp.org #14 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 3 places above merit 18 
Force Login 30K+ · 4.8★ (101)
wp.org #15 ↑7 wp.org ranks it 3 places above merit 19 
Nextend Social Login and Register 200K+ · 4.9★ (447)
wp.org #22 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 20 
UsersWP – Front-end login form, User Registration, User Profile & Members Directory plugin for WP 20K+ · 4.7★ (183)
wp.org #20 ↓2 21 
WPO365 | SEAMLESS WORDPRESS + MICROSOFT INTEGRATION (WPO365 | LOGIN) 10K+ · 4.9★ (154)
wp.org #23 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 22 
Sidebar Login 9K+ · 4.5★ (78)
wp.org #21 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 23 FluentAuth – Login Security, Two-Factor Authentication, Passkeys & Social Login 10K+ · 4.1★ (36)
wp.org #17 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 6 places above merit 24 
Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 4K+ · 5.0★ (24) thin reviews
wp.org #24 Merit ranking caps the install boost at 10M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted 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.