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

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 “altcha”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 2 of the top 19.

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

Authlify – Custom Login URL, Login Security, 2FA & Login Page Designer shows at wp.org #5 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 30+ installs carry it up the search order; its 1.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance places #3 on merit, 4.8★ from 2617 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 OpenPorte Spam Protection 500+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #17 ↓1 14 too low 4 INI Protector 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too high 5 GateCHA CAPTCHA 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too high 6 Webcraft Forms 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #6 ↓1 7 Nahnu Login Shield 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 8 Popup Coupon Generator for WooCommerce 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 ↓1 9 Wing Popup – Powerful Popup Builder, Opt-in Forms, Mailchimp and Smart Triggers 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 ↑2 10 Comments Anywhere for Elementor – Social Comments, Likes & More — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 ↓2 11 Accessible Forms by Accessible.org — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 ↓2 12 ddosNull Shield — DDoS & Bot Protection — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↓2 13 GWiz IT Content Locker — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 ↓1 14 FormGhost — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↓1 15 Baskerville AI Security — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 ↓1 16 Hibilon Field Service Management — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↓1 17 Blaze AI Discovery for WooCommerce 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 2 too low 18 onOffice for WP-Websites 800+ · 2.0★ (4) wp.org #18 19 Authlify – Custom Login URL, Login Security, 2FA & Login Page Designer 30+ · 1.0★ (1) wp.org #5 ↑1 14 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.