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

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 roles”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

Menu By User Roles shows at wp.org #8 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 7519 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #1 2 Nav Menu Roles 70K+ · 4.9★ (219) wp.org #2 ↑2 3 User Role Editor 700K+ · 4.5★ (288) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 User Profile Builder – Beautiful User Registration Forms, User Profiles & User Role Editor 40K+ · 4.7★ (738) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418) wp.org #9 4 too low 6 PublishPress Capabilities: User Role Access Control, Admin Area Permissions 90K+ · 4.7★ (143) wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too low 7 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #12 ↓4 5 too low 8 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #15 ↑3 7 too low 9 M Multiple Roles 5K+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #4 ↓1 5 too high 10 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #18 ↓2 8 too low 11 WPFront User Role Editor 30K+ · 4.5★ (65) wp.org #11 ↓1 12 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #22 ↓3 10 too low 13 Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #21 ↓4 8 too low 14 Hide Admin Bar Based on User Roles – Disable the WordPress Toolbar by Role or Capability 20K+ · 3.9★ (20) wp.org #6 8 too high 15 Edit Author Slug 100K+ · 4.8★ (84) wp.org #17 ↓5 2 too low 16 Smart Manager – Bulk Edit for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.4★ (288) wp.org #24 8 too low 17 Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) wp.org #19 2 too low 18 Bulk Edit and Create User Profiles – WP Sheet Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #16 ↓3 2 too high 19 Yoast Duplicate Post 3M+ · 4.7★ (538) wp.org #20 ↓5 1 too low 20 Roles & Capabilities 1K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #10 ↓3 10 too high 21 ELEX WooCommerce Bulk Edit Products, Prices & Attributes (Basic) 4K+ · 3.7★ (25) wp.org #13 ↑1 8 too high 22 Menu By User Roles 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #8 ↑15 14 too high 23 Product Visibility by User Role for WooCommerce 6K+ · 3.8★ (21) wp.org #23 ↓1 24 Custom Access Roles 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 ↓3 10 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.