Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “detection”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 16 of the top 20. 5 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

Residential Address Detection shows at wp.org #7 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 2.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads places #8 on merit, 4.9★ from 2433 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869) wp.org #1 ↑1 2 Geolocation IP Detection 20K+ · 4.7★ (59) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #10 ↑12 6 too low 5 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #11 ↓2 6 too low 6 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #14 ↓1 8 too low 7 WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (583) wp.org #3 ↑8 4 too high 8 Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads 300K+ · 4.9★ (2433) wp.org #17 ↑4 9 too low 9 Sucuri Security – Auditing, Malware Scanner and Security Hardening 600K+ · 4.2★ (386) wp.org #6 ↓1 3 too high 10 Firelight Lightbox 200K+ · 4.8★ (361) wp.org #16 ↑8 6 too low 11 Spam Protection | Maspik 30K+ · 4.7★ (87) wp.org #12 ↓2 1 too low 12 Antispam Bee 700K+ · 4.8★ (226) wp.org #15 ↓1 3 too low 13 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #24 11 too low 14 The SEO Framework – Fast, Automated, Effortless. 200K+ · 4.9★ (380) wp.org #18 4 too low 15 Quads Ads Manager for Google AdSense 20K+ · 4.9★ (1087) wp.org #20 ↓4 5 too low 16 Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 3K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #13 ↓1 3 too high 17 NinjaFirewall (WP Edition) – Advanced Security Plugin and Firewall 100K+ · 4.9★ (220) wp.org #21 ↓3 4 too low 18 WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway 700K+ · 3.1★ (237) wp.org #9 ↓1 9 too high 19 Quttera ThreatSign – Web Malware Scanner for WordPress 10K+ · 3.9★ (47) wp.org #22 ↓3 3 too low 20 SilentShield – Captcha & Anti-Spam for WordPress (CF7, WPForms, Elementor, WooCommerce) 10K+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #23 ↓8 3 too low 21 Fraud and Scam Detection For WooCommerce 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #5 ↓2 16 too high 22 CookieAdmin – Cookie Consent Banner 400K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #19 ↑4 3 too high 23 Disable Browser Telephone Format Detection 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 ↓1 15 too high 24 Residential Address Detection 300+ · 2.0★ (1) wp.org #7 ↓1 17 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.