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

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 “defender”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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

Access Defender – Advanced VPN & Proxy Blocker shows at wp.org #8 but places #14 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 40+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Advanced Form Integration — Connect Forms to 300+ Apps places #8 on merit, 4.8★ from 91 reviews, but shows at wp.org #15. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Defender Security – Malware Scanner, Login Security & Firewall 80K+ · 4.8★ (334) wp.org #1 2

Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #2 3

Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #3 4

Hide My WP Ghost – Security & Firewall 100K+ · 4.5★ (373) wp.org #7 3 too low 5

PDF.js Viewer 20K+ · 4.4★ (53) wp.org #5 6

Geo Controller – Geolocation & Geotargeting 1K+ · 4.4★ (31) wp.org #4 2 too high 7

SmartCrawl SEO checker, analyzer & optimizer 10K+ · 4.8★ (171) wp.org #11 4 too low 8

Advanced Form Integration — Connect Forms to 300+ Apps 9K+ · 4.8★ (91) wp.org #15 ↓1 7 too low 9

Branda – White Label & Branding, Free Login Page Customizer 10K+ · 4.5★ (30) wp.org #12 ↓2 3 too low 10

Beehive Analytics – Google Analytics Dashboard 20K+ · 4.5★ (13) thin reviews wp.org #9 ↓1 1 too high 11

Spam Defender – Review Captcha for WooCommerce 90+ · 0.0★ (0) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #6 5 too high 12

NoHackMe Defender 10+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #10 ↓1 2 too high 13

Banana Defender – GDPR-Compliant Firewall, Scanner & Virtual Patching for WordPress 10+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #13 ↓1 14

Access Defender – Advanced VPN & Proxy Blocker 40+ · 3.0★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #8 ↓1 6 too high 15

Spam Defender – Email Blocker 10+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #14 ↓1 1 too high 16

Talking Monkey Insights 90+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #16 ↓1 17

Password Protect – Temporary Login Without Password & Password Protect Entire Site 100+ · 3.7★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #22 ↓1 5 too low 18

Ghostables Defender Lite — · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #17 ↓1 1 too high 19

Crypto Mailto Defender — · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #18 ↓1 1 too high 20 C Clownsteins Rogue Agent Defender — · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too high 21

Tailwatch – Security, Backups, Monitoring & Management 10+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #23 ↓1 1 too low 23

ShopMonitor.io – Automated Checkout & Form Monitoring 10+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #20 ↓1 3 too high 24

Content Protection and Disable Right Click 40+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #24 ↓1

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.