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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “custom password policy”

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 “custom password policy”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

Teydea Login Security – Password Policy, Complexity Rules & Expiration shows at wp.org #7 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 400+ 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.

Buried gem

Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) places #8 on merit, 4.9★ from 8,870 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

How this rank is calculated

Each plugin's merit score multiplies these inputs together: how recently it was updated, how current its "tested up to" WordPress version is, its install base (log scale, capped at 10 million), its support thread resolution rate, and a rating score. The rating score weights the star average by review volume against a sitewide prior, then scales it by the lower bound of the share of 4 and 5 star reviews. A plugin with 3.7 stars from tens of thousands of reviews can still outscore a 4.9 with a few dozen, because the small sample carries less certainty.

A health factor between 0.4 and 1.15 then adjusts that score for what wp.org's search can't see: PHP fatals or failed activations on a test install, PHP and WordPress compatibility, memory and page-speed footprint, suspicious review patterns, closure risk, and a large install base with very few reviews. Clean, adopted plugins earn a small lift.

A keyword ranking starts from wp.org's search order for the term, weighting each position by 1 divided by its place, then applies the merit correction and health factor above. Relevance to the keyword stays in the result, so the order can differ from the all-categories list on /best, which scores plugins with no search term.

Hover a row to see the main reason for its position.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1,440) wp.org #1 2 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5,043) wp.org #3 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 3 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2,146) wp.org #4 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 4 Kadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection 700K+ · 4.6★ (3,992) wp.org #6 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 5 PPWP – Password Protect Pages 30K+ · 4.7★ (272) wp.org #5 ↓1 6 Password Policy Manager 6K+ · 4.4★ (14) wp.org #2 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 4 places above merit 7 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1,668) wp.org #9 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 8 Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8,870) wp.org #14 ↓3 wp.org ranks it 6 places below merit 9 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14,389) wp.org #15 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 6 places below merit 10 Secure Custom Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (69) wp.org #8 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 11 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #13 ↑2 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 12 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7,322) wp.org #16 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 4 places below merit 13 LoginPress | wp-login Custom Login Page Customizer 200K+ · 4.8★ (1,077) wp.org #18 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 5 places below merit 14 Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (398) wp.org #17 ↑1 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 15 User Profile Builder – Beautiful User Registration Forms, User Profiles & User Role Editor 40K+ · 4.7★ (738) wp.org #19 ↑4 wp.org ranks it 4 places below merit 16 Custom Login Page Customizer 50K+ · 4.9★ (477) wp.org #23 ↑1 wp.org ranks it 7 places below merit 17 WPVibe – MCP Server for WordPress, works with Claude, ChatGPT & other AI MCP agents 100K+ · 5.0★ (202) wp.org #20 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 18 RegistrationMagic – Custom Registration Forms, User Registration, Payment, and User Login 7K+ · 4.5★ (459) wp.org #22 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 4 places below merit 19 WPEPP – Essential Security, Password Protect & Login Page Customizer 3K+ · 4.1★ (19) wp.org #10 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 9 places above merit 20 U Use Administrator Password 800+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #11 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 9 places above merit 21 Teydea Login Customizer – Custom Login Page, Branding & Styling 10K+ · 4.8★ (14) wp.org #21 ↓1 22 Custom Site Logo 1K+ · 4.7★ (9) wp.org #24 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 23 Teydea Login Security – Password Policy, Complexity Rules & Expiration 400+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 16 places above merit 24 Simple Password Protect 500+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 wp.org ranks it 12 places above merit

Merit ranking caps the install boost at 10M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted 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.