wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “brute force protection”
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 “brute force protection”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 4 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
ReportedIP Hive: Firewall, Brute Force Protection, 2FA and Anti-Spam shows at wp.org #16 but places #24 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.
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.
Kadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection 700K+ · 4.6★ (3,992)
wp.org #1 2 
Limit Login Attempts Security – Brute Force Protection, 2FA, Firewall & Login Security 1M+ · 4.8★ (1,489)
wp.org #2 3 
Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2,409)
wp.org #3 ↑2 4 
Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5,043)
wp.org #5 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 5 
Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (398)
wp.org #6 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 6 
Security Optimizer – The All-In-One Protection Plugin 1M+ · 4.5★ (158)
wp.org #4 ↑3 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 7 
Anti-Malware Security and Brute-Force Firewall 100K+ · 4.9★ (783)
wp.org #9 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 8 
Titan Anti-spam & Security – Brute Force Protection, 2FA & Spam Filter 50K+ · 4.5★ (370)
wp.org #7 ↓3 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 9 
Loginizer 1M+ · 4.8★ (1,033)
wp.org #8 ↑2 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 10 
Shield Security – Smart Bot Blocking, Brute-Force Login Protection & File Scanning 30K+ · 4.8★ (1,039)
wp.org #12 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 11 
All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1,720)
wp.org #10 ↑3 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 12 
Hide My WP Ghost – Security & Firewall 100K+ · 4.5★ (373)
wp.org #13 ↑1 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 13 
Advanced Google reCAPTCHA 200K+ · 4.8★ (430)
wp.org #15 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 14 
Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423)
wp.org #18 ↑2 wp.org ranks it 4 places below merit 15 
Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8,870)
wp.org #24 ↓5 wp.org ranks it 9 places below merit 16 
Sucuri Security – Auditing, Malware Scanner and Security Hardening 600K+ · 4.2★ (386)
wp.org #14 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 17 
Login Lockdown & Protection 100K+ · 4.3★ (61)
wp.org #11 ↓3 wp.org ranks it 6 places above merit 18 
WPBruiser Security – No CAPTCHA Anti-Spam & Login Protection 10K+ · 4.6★ (213)
wp.org #20 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 19 
NinjaFirewall (WP Edition) – Advanced Security Plugin and Firewall 100K+ · 4.9★ (220)
wp.org #22 ↑2 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 20 
Jetpack Protect 100K+ · 4.6★ (123)
wp.org #23 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 21 
Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 3K+ · 5.0★ (24) thin reviews
wp.org #19 ↓3 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 22 
Quttera ThreatSign – Web Malware Scanner for WordPress 10K+ · 3.9★ (47)
wp.org #21 ↓4 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 23 
Atlant Security 800+ · 5.0★ (8) thin reviews
wp.org #17 ↑1 wp.org ranks it 6 places above merit 24 ReportedIP Hive: Firewall, Brute Force Protection, 2FA and Anti-Spam 100+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews
wp.org #16 wp.org ranks it 8 places above merit 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.