wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “cloud authentication”

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 “cloud authentication”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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

Firebase Authentication shows at wp.org #5 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 400+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 20 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5040) wp.org #1 2

WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470) wp.org #2 3

miniOrange 2FA – Two Factor Authentication for WordPress (Passkey, OTP, SMS, Email, Google Authenticator) 10K+ · 4.5★ (385) wp.org #4 1 too low 4

Limit Login Attempts Security – Login Security, 2FA, Firewall, Brute Force Prevention 1M+ · 4.8★ (1489) wp.org #7 ↓1 3 too low 5

WPvivid — Backup, Migration & Staging 900K+ · 4.9★ (1568) wp.org #8 ↓3 3 too low 6

Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #6 ↑7 7

Media Cloud Sync 1K+ · 4.9★ (13) thin reviews wp.org #3 4 too high 8

Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (397) wp.org #9 ↑2 1 too low 9

Templately – Elementor & Gutenberg Template Library: 6500+ Free & Pro Ready Templates And Cloud! 300K+ · 5.0★ (383) wp.org #10 ↓2 1 too low 10

All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #12 2 too low 11

BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #11 ↓2 12

Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #15 ↓1 3 too low 13

All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #14 ↓2 1 too low 14

Backup Migration 80K+ · 4.9★ (1338) wp.org #19 ↓2 5 too low 15

Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #16 ↓1 1 too low 16

Firebase Authentication 400+ · 4.0★ (20) thin reviews wp.org #5 ↑2 11 too high 17

FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #17 ↓1 18

WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More 4M+ · 4.8★ (5209) wp.org #24 6 too low 19

GSheetConnector – CF7 Google Sheets Connector & Save CF7 Entries to Database 40K+ · 4.4★ (129) wp.org #20 ↑3 1 too low 20

WP Offload Media Lite for Amazon S3, DigitalOcean Spaces, and Google Cloud Storage 30K+ · 3.7★ (115) wp.org #18 2 too high 21

Autoship Cloud for WooCommerce Subscription Products 100+ · 4.6★ (37) wp.org #22 ↓2 23

Cloud Storage Manager for Fluent Forms – Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, S3 Uploads 400+ · 5.0★ (9) thin reviews wp.org #13 ↓3 10 too high 24

Mastercard Merchant Cloud 2K+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #21 3 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.