wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “content restriction plugin”
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 restriction plugin”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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
SureMembers – Membership & Content Restriction Plugin shows at wp.org #3 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
User Registration & Membership – Free & Paid Memberships, Subscriptions, Content Restriction, User Profile, Custom User Registration & Login Builder places #9 on merit, 4.8★ from 832 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445)
wp.org #1 2 
Paid Membership Subscriptions – Effortless Memberships, Recurring Payments & Content Restriction 10K+ · 4.7★ (270)
wp.org #2 3 
WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833)
wp.org #4 1 too low 4 
Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281)
wp.org #5 ↑3 1 too low 5 
Content Control – The Ultimate Content Restriction Solution! Restrict Content, Create Conditional Blocks & More 40K+ · 4.9★ (575)
wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too low 6 
Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418)
wp.org #8 ↓2 2 too low 7 
Business Directory Plugin – Easy Listing & Member Directories for WordPress 10K+ · 4.6★ (504)
wp.org #9 2 too low 8 
BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323)
wp.org #11 ↑2 3 too low 9 User Registration & Membership – Free & Paid Memberships, Subscriptions, Content Restriction, User Profile, Custom User Registration & Login Builder 50K+ · 4.8★ (832)
wp.org #16 7 too low 10 
Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (397)
wp.org #17 7 too low 11 
Download Plugin 60K+ · 4.5★ (27)
wp.org #7 4 too high 12 
Login IP & Country Restriction 8K+ · 4.6★ (52)
wp.org #10 ↑2 2 too high 13 
GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155)
wp.org #12 ↓2 1 too high 14 
WP-Members Membership Plugin 50K+ · 4.6★ (272)
wp.org #18 4 too low 15 
User Profile Builder – Beautiful User Registration Forms, User Profiles & User Role Editor 40K+ · 4.7★ (738)
wp.org #24 ↓2 9 too low 16 
User Frontend – Membership, User Registration, User Profile, User Directory & Content Restriction with Frontend Post Submission 20K+ · 4.1★ (537)
wp.org #20 4 too low 17 
Security Optimizer – The All-In-One Protection Plugin 1M+ · 4.5★ (157)
wp.org #13 ↑2 4 too high 18 
Independent Analytics – WordPress Analytics Plugin 100K+ · 4.8★ (167)
wp.org #23 ↑1 5 too low 19 
Passster – Password Protect Pages and Content 10K+ · 4.2★ (60)
wp.org #14 ↓3 5 too high 20 SureMembers – Membership & Content Restriction Plugin 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews
wp.org #3 17 too high 21 
Membership Plugin – Kadence Memberships 8K+ · 3.1★ (100)
wp.org #19 ↓2 2 too high 22 
Page and Post Restriction 1K+ · 4.3★ (16) thin reviews
wp.org #15 ↓1 7 too high 23 
Restrict – membership, site, content and user access restrictions for WordPress 2K+ · 4.2★ (25)
wp.org #21 ↓2 2 too high 24 
WP User Profile Restriction 500+ · 5.0★ (5) thin reviews
wp.org #22 ↓2 2 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.