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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “edit restriction”

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 “edit restriction”, 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

WP User Profile Restriction shows at wp.org #6 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 500+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Content Control – The Ultimate Content Restriction Solution! Restrict Content, Create Conditional Blocks & More places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 575 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 wp.org
1 Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #1 2 Paid Membership Subscriptions – Effortless Memberships, Recurring Payments & Content Restriction 10K+ · 4.7★ (270) wp.org #2 3 Bulk Edit Products for WooCommerce – WP Sheet Editor 10K+ · 4.9★ (228) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #7 ↑1 3 too low 5 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #9 4 too low 6 Simple Page Access Restriction 6K+ · 4.9★ (32) 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 #10 ↓1 3 too low 8 Page and Post Restriction 1K+ · 4.3★ (16) wp.org #3 5 too high 9 Content Control – The Ultimate Content Restriction Solution! Restrict Content, Create Conditional Blocks & More 40K+ · 4.9★ (575) wp.org #15 ↓2 6 too low 10 Bulk Edit Posts and Products in Spreadsheet 7K+ · 4.8★ (217) wp.org #12 ↓1 2 too low 11 User Profile Builder – Beautiful User Registration Forms, User Profiles & User Role Editor 40K+ · 4.7★ (738) wp.org #17 ↓2 6 too low 12 User Frontend – Membership, User Registration, User Profile, User Directory & Content Restriction with Frontend Post Submission 20K+ · 4.1★ (537) wp.org #14 ↑4 2 too low 13 Country Based Restrictions for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.5★ (52) wp.org #11 ↓1 2 too high 14 Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) wp.org #19 5 too low 15 Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (808) wp.org #23 ↓3 8 too low 16 s2Member – Excellent for All Kinds of Memberships, Content Restriction Paywalls & Member Access Subscriptions 8K+ · 4.1★ (234) wp.org #18 ↓2 2 too low 17 SVG Support 1M+ · 4.8★ (356) wp.org #22 ↓5 5 too low 18 Pie Register – User Registration, Profiles & Content Restriction 1K+ · 4.2★ (222) wp.org #24 ↓2 6 too low 19 WP User Profile Restriction 500+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #6 13 too high 20 WPEPP – Essential Security, Password Protect & Login Page Customizer 3K+ · 4.1★ (19) wp.org #13 ↓1 7 too high 21 P Post/Page Edit Restriction Days 10+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #8 ↓1 13 too high 22 Bulk Edit Coupons for WooCommerce – WP Sheet Editor 500+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #21 1 too high 23 Bulk Edit Events – Create Events in a Bulk Editor 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #20 ↓1 3 too high 24 SureMembers – Membership & Content Restriction Plugin 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #16 ↓2 8 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.