wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “double login”

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

Login Page Customizer – Customize Login Screen & Branding shows at wp.org #8 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.2★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Kadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection places #10 on merit, 4.6★ from 3992 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 signals wp.org

Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) wp.org #1 2

Custom Login Page Customizer 50K+ · 4.9★ (476) wp.org #2 3

Sidebar Login 9K+ · 4.5★ (78) wp.org #3 4

WPO365 | SEAMLESS WORDPRESS + MICROSOFT INTEGRATION (WPO365 | LOGIN) 10K+ · 4.9★ (154) wp.org #5 1 too low 5

Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #7 2 too low 6

Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 3K+ · 5.0★ (24) thin reviews wp.org #4 2 too high 7

User Registration & Membership – Free & Paid Memberships, Subscriptions, Content Restriction, User Profile, Custom User Registration & Login Builder 50K+ · 4.8★ (832) wp.org #11 4 too low 8

Loginizer 1M+ · 4.8★ (1033) wp.org #10 2 too low 9

Paid Membership Subscriptions – Effortless Memberships, Recurring Payments & Content Restriction 10K+ · 4.7★ (270) wp.org #12 3 too low 10

Kadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection 700K+ · 4.6★ (3992) wp.org #17 7 too low 11

Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #13 2 too low 12

Advanced Google reCAPTCHA 200K+ · 4.8★ (430) wp.org #16 4 too low 13

RegistrationMagic – Custom Registration Forms, User Registration, Payment, and User Login 7K+ · 4.5★ (459) wp.org #15 2 too low 14

CMP – Coming Soon & Maintenance Plugin by NiteoThemes 200K+ · 4.7★ (326) wp.org #23 9 too low 15

Click to Chat – HoliThemes 600K+ · 4.8★ (131) wp.org #19 4 too low 16

Branda – White Label & Branding, Free Login Page Customizer 10K+ · 4.5★ (30) wp.org #14 3 too high 18

My Private Site – Make Your Whole Site Private, Force Login & Block Registration Spam 10K+ · 4.5★ (82) wp.org #21 3 too low 19

BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #22 3 too low 20

Double Youpï Refined Admin Dashboard – Admin Theme with Dark Mode & Media Folders 70+ · 5.0★ (5) thin reviews wp.org #9 11 too high 21

Happy Coders OTP Login for WooCommerce 30+ · 5.0★ (7) thin reviews wp.org #24 2 too low 23

MyFast Login Guard – Login Protection & Server Info 30+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews 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.