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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “bot mitigation”

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 “bot mitigation”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 3 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

WP Guardian – Security Hardening Checklist & Lightweight Firewall shows at wp.org #9 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Limit Login Attempts Security – Login Security, 2FA, Firewall, Brute Force Prevention 1M+ · 4.8★ (1488) wp.org #1 2 Headers Security Advanced & HSTS WP 90K+ · 4.8★ (80) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 Sucuri Security – Auditing, Malware Scanner and Security Hardening 600K+ · 4.2★ (386) wp.org #3 4 Checkout Shield for WooCommerce – Stop Fake Orders, Spam Bots & Card Testing 400+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #2 2 too high 5 Quttera ThreatSign – Web Malware Scanner for WordPress 10K+ · 3.9★ (47) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 App for Cloudflare® 1K+ · 4.7★ (14) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 Bangladeshi Payments Mobile – MFS Gateway, QR Code, Advance COD Protection, Thermal POS Invoicing & WhatsApp Suite 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 SiaraShield 10+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #11 ↑2 3 too low 9 Anonympins Bot Mitigation with Proof-of-Work — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #5 4 too high 10 PrimePlaced – Advanced password protection 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #10 11 TrafficGuard PPC Fraud Prevention 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 ↑1 2 too low 12 V Voho bot manager — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↑1 2 too low 13 Anura.io 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 ↑1 2 too low 14 Bot Lockout — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 2 too high 15 Gatorio — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↑1 1 too low 16 FormShield – Simple CAPTCHA Form Protection — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 ↑1 1 too low 17 WP Guardian – Security Hardening Checklist & Lightweight Firewall 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 8 too high 18 ddosNull Shield — DDoS & Bot Protection — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 ↑1 19 Fuerte-WP | WordPress Security, Auto-Updates and Admin Control 90+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↑1 20 Precise Expressions Checkout Abuse Protection for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↑1 21 Anti-Carding & Bot Shield for WooCommerce (Stop Card Testing Attacks) — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 22 OW Forms — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 23 LC Anti-Spam Registration — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 24 Kortech Shieldora — · 0.0★ (0) 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.