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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “carding attack”

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 “carding attack”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 2 of the top 16. 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.

Buried gem

Payment Plugins for PayPal WooCommerce places #4 on merit, 4.8★ from 127 reviews, but shows at wp.org #12. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Hide Cart Functions 3K+ · 4.6★ (14) wp.org #1 ↑1 2 Store Vacation Lite for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.6★ (189) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 Atomic Edge Security – Firewall, Malware Scan and Login Security 700+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too low 4 Payment Plugins for PayPal WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (127) wp.org #12 ↑2 8 too low 5 Anti-Carding & Bot Shield for WooCommerce (Stop Card Testing Attacks) — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #3 ↑1 2 too high 6 Carticy SiteVitals – Security, Speed, Performance & Database Optimization — · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 IronPhantom Fraud Defense 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #5 2 too high 8 Basiru Checkout Fraud Guard for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 9 SaferCheckout Lite – Fraud prevention for WooCommerce 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #6 3 too high 10 ddosNull Shield — DDoS & Bot Protection — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 1 too high 11 Kortech Shieldora — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 1 too high 12 SentinelGuard — Fraud & Checkout Protection for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 1 too high 13 WebDecoy Bot Detection – Block AI Crawlers, Spam Bots & Card Testing — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 ↓1 14 Carthound – Stop Card Testing & Fake Orders — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↓1 15 QWeb Spam Shield — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 16 VerifiedVisitors — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16

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.