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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “comment paywall”

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 “comment paywall”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 of the top 20. 4 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

Substack Importer shows at wp.org #10 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 2.8★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #1 2 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #2 3 s2Member – Excellent for All Kinds of Memberships, Content Restriction Paywalls & Member Access Subscriptions 8K+ · 4.1★ (234) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 FluentSnippets – High-Performance Code Snippets, Header & Footer Code, Custom CSS & PHP Code Manager 50K+ · 4.7★ (78) wp.org #7 ↑1 3 too low 5 Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 3K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #5 ↑1 6 ProfilePress – Paid Membership, Online Courses (LMS), Ecommerce, User Registration & Login Form, User Profile & Restrict Content 100K+ · 3.1★ (938) wp.org #6 ↓1 7 Zlick Paywall 100+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #3 4 too high 8 FluentCommunity – Ultra-Fast High-Performance Social Network, Community, LMS & Online Courses 8K+ · 4.8★ (96) wp.org #8 ↓1 9 Meow Mailer – Free SMTP, Everything Included 900+ · 5.0★ (25) wp.org #9 ↑1 10 FAZ Cookie Manager 3K+ · 5.0★ (30) wp.org #18 ↓1 8 too low 11 Memberful – Membership Plugin 1K+ · 4.7★ (13) wp.org #11 12 Pay For Post with WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.7★ (53) wp.org #14 2 too low 13 Protected Video 1K+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #13 14 IssueM 600+ · 4.1★ (13) wp.org #21 ↓1 7 too low 15 SheetFusion – Sync Google Sheets Into Tables. No Row Limits, No API Keys. 40+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #15 16 Hostbox Google reCAPTCHA 600+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #22 6 too low 17 WP MyLinks 1K+ · 4.0★ (14) wp.org #24 7 too low 18 Radle – A Reddit Comments Engine 10+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #16 2 too high 19 Hash Form – Drag & Drop Form Builder 3K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #17 ↑1 2 too high 20 Conformitico Recesso 54-bis for WooCommerce 50+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #23 3 too low 21 Bobasoftware Publisher Paywall — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 9 too high 22 WP-Stats 2K+ · 2.6★ (7) wp.org #19 3 too high 23 Orazio Puglisi Paywall — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↑1 3 too high 24 Substack Importer 1K+ · 2.8★ (4) wp.org #10 ↓1 14 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.