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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “content filter”

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 “content filter”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 6 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

Content Censor shows at wp.org #13 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 600+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.5★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 27821 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Filter Everything — WordPress & WooCommerce Filters 50K+ · 4.6★ (154) wp.org #1 2 YMC Filter 4K+ · 4.8★ (34) wp.org #2 3 Product Filter for WooCommerce by WBW 50K+ · 4.8★ (325) wp.org #4 ↑2 1 too low 4 HUSKY – Products Filter for WooCommerce Professional. MCP is onboard 80K+ · 4.6★ (337) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too high 5 Category AJAX Filter – Posts, Custom Post Types & Product Filter 6K+ · 4.9★ (158) wp.org #5 6 Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 Content Views – Post Grid & Filter (Shortcode, Blocks, Elementor Widgets) 100K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #6 ↓3 1 too high 8 Search & Filter 40K+ · 4.5★ (175) wp.org #8 9 Portfolio Filter Gallery – Photo Gallery 20K+ · 4.8★ (348) wp.org #11 ↑1 2 too low 10 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #17 ↑6 7 too low 11 Blog Filter – Post Grid Filter by Category or Tag 7K+ · 4.9★ (81) wp.org #9 2 too high 12 Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #15 ↑2 3 too low 13 WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click 100K+ · 4.8★ (1138) wp.org #19 6 too low 14 Content Control – The Ultimate Content Restriction Solution! Restrict Content, Create Conditional Blocks & More 40K+ · 4.9★ (575) wp.org #18 ↓5 4 too low 15 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #14 ↑1 1 too high 16 Table of Contents Plus – Automatic Table of Contents for Posts & Pages 200K+ · 4.5★ (187) wp.org #20 ↓2 4 too low 17 Filter Gallery 3K+ · 4.6★ (22) wp.org #12 ↑2 5 too high 18 Better Post & Filter Widgets for Elementor 4K+ · 5.0★ (18) wp.org #10 8 too high 19 Secure Copy Content Protection and Content Locking 20K+ · 4.3★ (62) wp.org #21 ↓1 2 too low 20 Plugin Load Filter 7K+ · 4.8★ (52) wp.org #23 ↓2 3 too low 21 Passster – Password Protect Pages and Content 10K+ · 4.2★ (60) wp.org #16 ↓5 5 too high 22 MxChat – AI Chatbot & Content Generation for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (31) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 Themify – WooCommerce Product Filter 20K+ · 3.5★ (72) wp.org #22 1 too high 24 Content Censor 600+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #13 ↑3 11 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.