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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “cryptographic”

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 “cryptographic”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

ZATCA E-Invoice for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #11 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 10+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #1 2 License Manager for WooCommerce 6K+ · 4.6★ (147) wp.org #2 3 Invisible Anti-Spam & CAPTCHA — reCAPTCHA Alternative for All Forms 4K+ · 4.8★ (50) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Secure Passkeys 2K+ · 4.8★ (19) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 miniOrange 2FA – Two Factor Authentication for WordPress (OTP, SMS, Email, Google Authenticator) 10K+ · 4.5★ (385) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 Digital License Manager 800+ · 4.7★ (30) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 Payment Gateway for Redsys & WooCommerce Lite 20K+ · 4.9★ (87) wp.org #7 8 No unsafe-inline 200+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #16 8 too low 9 Public Preview URL Manager 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 3 too high 10 Footprint – Find what slows your site 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 ↑1 1 too high 11 Erdo Draft Links – Share Drafts, Client Preview, Secure Link 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 ↓1 1 too high 12 Trinity Backup – Backup, Migrate, Restore, Clone & Schedule Backups 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 3 too low 13 24TT Unrestricted Forms 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 1 too high 14 Tropipay Gateway for WooCommerce 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 ↑1 4 too low 15 KHALAF Login Access Guard — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 4 too low 16 Bottle 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 ↑1 3 too high 17 Widerrufsbutton 300+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↓1 3 too high 18 ZATCA E-Invoice for WooCommerce 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 7 too high 19 Sign-in With Solana 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 2 too low 20 WPGreeks Securities & SEO Tools 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 ↑1 3 too high 21 Rootz AI Discovery 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 1 too low 22 DropUI – More Sales from the Traffic You Already Have 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 1 too low 23 Lunexia Security – .htaccess Shield, Firewall, Two Factor Authentication (2FA) & Malware Protection — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 Walkiria Maintenance — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 4 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.