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

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 “encryption”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 6 of the top 20. 4 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

CryptX shows at wp.org #8 but places #14 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.5★ average from 20 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Media File Renamer: Rename Images & Files for SEO (AI-Powered) places #8 on merit, 4.6★ from 447 reviews, but shows at wp.org #13. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP Encryption: Easy HTTPS / SSL & Free SSL certificate, HTTPS redirect 50K+ · 4.9★ (1146) wp.org #1 ↑1 2 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5038) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4940) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 WPvivid — Backup, Migration & Staging 900K+ · 4.9★ (1568) wp.org #5 6 Better Messages – Chat Rooms, Group Chat, Private Messages & AI Chat Bots 10K+ · 4.8★ (142) wp.org #7 ↑1 1 too low 7 Email Address Encoder 100K+ · 4.2★ (160) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 Media File Renamer: Rename Images & Files for SEO (AI-Powered) 40K+ · 4.6★ (447) wp.org #13 ↑4 5 too low 9 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #11 ↑1 2 too low 10 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #9 ↑4 1 too high 11 WP SMTP Mailer – SMTP7 8K+ · 5.0★ (115) wp.org #12 ↓1 1 too low 12 SMTP Mailer 70K+ · 4.6★ (67) wp.org #10 ↓3 2 too high 13 Gmail SMTP 10K+ · 4.1★ (103) wp.org #17 ↓3 4 too low 14 CryptX 10K+ · 4.5★ (20) wp.org #8 ↑2 6 too high 15 Easy MCP AI – Connect Claude to WordPress: MCP Server for ChatGPT & AI Agents 30K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #14 ↑4 1 too high 16 PDF Ink Lite – Free PDF Watermark & Password Protection 2K+ · 4.6★ (51) wp.org #20 4 too low 17 DoLogin Security 7K+ · 4.5★ (13) wp.org #15 2 too high 18 VdoCipher: Secure Video Player and Hosting 2K+ · 4.2★ (14) wp.org #22 ↓1 4 too low 19 AI 60K+ · 4.2★ (10) wp.org #21 ↓12 2 too low 20 Bit SMTP – Easy SMTP Solution with Email Logs 2K+ · 3.9★ (15) wp.org #19 ↑1 1 too high 21 SmartSMTP 2K+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #16 5 too high 22 Zoho Forms – Drag & Drop Form Builder for Websites – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Order Forms & More 10K+ · 2.7★ (14) wp.org #24 ↓1 2 too low 23 pCloud WP Backup 1K+ · 2.8★ (20) wp.org #23 ↓1 24 WP-FormAssembly 2K+ · 4.0★ (3) wp.org #18 ↑1 6 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.