wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “buddypress login”

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 “buddypress login”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

Rename wp-admin login shows at wp.org #16 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 9K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.9★ average from 7 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.

merit plugin signals wp.org

WPS Hide Login 2M+ · 4.8★ (2,111) wp.org #1 2

WPO365 | SEAMLESS WORDPRESS + MICROSOFT INTEGRATION (WPO365 | LOGIN) 10K+ · 4.9★ (154) wp.org #3 ↑1 4

Nextend Social Login and Register 200K+ · 4.9★ (447) wp.org #6 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 5

Social Login, Social Sharing by miniOrange 10K+ · 4.6★ (356) wp.org #7 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 6

LoginPress | wp-login Custom Login Page Customizer 200K+ · 4.8★ (1,077) wp.org #9 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 7

Sidebar Login 9K+ · 4.5★ (78) wp.org #5 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 8

Advanced Google reCAPTCHA 200K+ · 4.8★ (430) wp.org #11 ↑1 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 9

Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #10 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 10

Defender Security – Malware Scanner, Login Security & Firewall 80K+ · 4.8★ (334) wp.org #12 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 11 B BuddyPress Login Redirect to Profile 600+ · 5.0★ (12) thin reviews wp.org #4 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 7 places above merit 12

User Profile Builder – Beautiful User Registration Forms, User Profiles & User Role Editor 40K+ · 4.7★ (738) wp.org #15 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 13

All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1,720) wp.org #13 ↑8 14

Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8,870) wp.org #18 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 4 places below merit 15

rtMedia for WordPress, BuddyPress and bbPress 7K+ · 3.7★ (152) wp.org #8 wp.org ranks it 7 places above merit 16

Active Directory Integration / LDAP Integration 4K+ · 4.9★ (211) wp.org #19 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 17

Wp Social Login and Register Social Counter 70K+ · 4.6★ (67) wp.org #14 ↑1 wp.org ranks it 3 places above merit 18

AJAX Login and Registration modal popup + inline form 3K+ · 4.7★ (120) wp.org #17 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 19

WPBruiser Security – No CAPTCHA Anti-Spam & Login Protection 10K+ · 4.6★ (213) wp.org #21 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 20

Masteriyo LMS – LMS Course Builder, Quizzes & Certificates 6K+ · 4.8★ (185) wp.org #20 ↑3 21

Events Manager – Calendar, Bookings, Tickets, Appointments and more! 60K+ · 4.2★ (551) wp.org #23 ↓6 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 22

UsersWP – Front-end login form, User Registration, User Profile & Members Directory plugin for WP 20K+ · 4.7★ (183) wp.org #24 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 23

Login Me Now – Passwordless, Magic Link, OTP & Social Login for WordPress 500+ · 5.0★ (9) thin reviews wp.org #22 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 24

Rename wp-admin login 9K+ · 3.9★ (7) thin reviews wp.org #16 ↓3 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.