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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “ctrl s”

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 “ctrl s”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

Simple Content Copy Protection & No Right Click shows at wp.org #10 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

NEX-Forms – Ultimate Forms Plugin for WordPress places #11 on merit, 4.1★ from 135 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #1 ↑1 2 Loco Translate 1M+ · 4.8★ (453) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 Disabled Source, Disabled Right Click and Content Protection 10K+ · 4.9★ (103) wp.org #3 4 WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click 100K+ · 4.8★ (1138) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 HTML Editor Syntax Highlighter 60K+ · 4.4★ (110) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Secure Copy Content Protection and Content Locking 20K+ · 4.3★ (62) wp.org #6 7 Change Text Case 1K+ · 4.8★ (21) wp.org #9 2 too low 8 WP Protect Content 1K+ · 4.0★ (16) wp.org #7 1 too high 9 Simple Shortcode for Google Maps 3K+ · 4.6★ (46) wp.org #14 ↓1 5 too low 10 Bricks Navigator 8K+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #13 ↑1 3 too low 11 NEX-Forms – Ultimate Forms Plugin for WordPress 5K+ · 4.1★ (135) wp.org #22 ↓1 11 too low 12 Document Viewer – let visitors view files right in the browser 2K+ · 4.7★ (52) wp.org #21 ↓1 9 too low 13 CopyProof Website 300+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #8 5 too high 14 MeetingHub – Appointment Booking & Meeting Scheduling for Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Webex, Jitsi 400+ · 4.8★ (13) wp.org #16 ↑1 2 too low 15 WP Mautic 5K+ · 4.9★ (8) wp.org #15 16 Right Click Ban – Disable Right Click & Content Copy Protection 400+ · 4.3★ (7) wp.org #11 5 too high 17 Panda Pods Repeater Field 500+ · 4.5★ (11) wp.org #17 ↓1 18 Simple Content Copy Protection & No Right Click 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #10 8 too high 19 MailerPress – Email Marketing, Newsletter, Email Automation & WooCommerce Emails 1K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #24 5 too low 20 eDarpan: Website Protection 200+ · 3.8★ (5) wp.org #12 8 too high 21 No copy allowed – Nork Digital 100+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #18 3 too high 22 Fiber Admin 200+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 2 too high 23 Switcher 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 4 too high 24 SnapShots 20+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #23 ↓1 1 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.