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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “fake accounts”

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 “fake accounts”, 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

Anti Fake Orders & IP Blocker shows at wp.org #13 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 1.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Back In Stock Notifier for WooCommerce | WooCommerce Waitlist Pro places #11 on merit, 4.7★ from 122 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

How this rank is calculated

Each plugin's merit score multiplies these inputs together: how recently it was updated, how current its "tested up to" WordPress version is, its install base (log scale, capped at 10 million), its support thread resolution rate, and a rating score. The rating score weights the star average by review volume against a sitewide prior, then scales it by the lower bound of the share of 4 and 5 star reviews. A plugin with 3.7 stars from tens of thousands of reviews can still outscore a 4.9 with a few dozen, because the small sample carries less certainty.

A health factor between 0.4 and 1.15 then adjusts that score for what wp.org's search can't see: PHP fatals or failed activations on a test install, PHP and WordPress compatibility, memory and page-speed footprint, suspicious review patterns, closure risk, and a large install base with very few reviews. Clean, adopted plugins earn a small lift.

A keyword ranking starts from wp.org's search order for the term, weighting each position by 1 divided by its place, then applies the merit correction and health factor above. Relevance to the keyword stays in the result, so the order can differ from the all-categories list on /best, which scores plugins with no search term.

Hover a row to see the main reason for its position.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3,224) wp.org #1 2 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1,720) wp.org #2 3 Login & Register Customizer – Forms, Popup, Profile & WooCommerce 30K+ · 4.8★ (254) wp.org #4 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 4 Advanced Shipment Tracking for WooCommerce 70K+ · 4.5★ (355) wp.org #7 ↓3 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 5 Customer Email Verification for WooCommerce – OTP Verification, Block Fake Signups 2K+ · 4.2★ (20) wp.org #3 ↑3 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 6 CAPTCHA 4WP – Antispam CAPTCHA solution for WordPress 100K+ · 3.2★ (269) wp.org #5 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 7 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5,043) wp.org #11 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 4 places below merit 8 New User Approve 20K+ · 4.3★ (131) wp.org #9 ↑3 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 9 Fraud Prevention For WooCommerce and EDD 4K+ · 3.7★ (23) wp.org #6 ↑1 wp.org ranks it 3 places above merit 10 My Private Site – Make Your Whole Site Private, Force Login & Block Registration Spam 10K+ · 4.5★ (82) wp.org #15 ↑1 wp.org ranks it 5 places below merit 11 Back In Stock Notifier for WooCommerce | WooCommerce Waitlist Pro 20K+ · 4.7★ (122) wp.org #23 wp.org ranks it 12 places below merit 12 Zero Spam for WordPress 20K+ · 4.1★ (143) wp.org #24 wp.org ranks it 12 places below merit 13 Checkout Shield for WooCommerce – Stop Fake Orders, Spam Bots & Card Testing 400+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #8 ↑2 wp.org ranks it 5 places above merit 14 Easy PayPal & Stripe Buy Now Button 10K+ · 4.5★ (24) wp.org #19 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 5 places below merit 15 ActiveLayer Anti-Spam: Spam Protection for Forms & Comments 10K+ · 4.9★ (10) wp.org #17 ↑3 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 16 Accept Donations with PayPal & Stripe 10K+ · 3.8★ (23) wp.org #20 ↓5 wp.org ranks it 4 places below merit 17 FluentAuth – Login Security, Two-Factor Authentication, Passkeys & Social Login 10K+ · 4.1★ (35) wp.org #22 ↑2 wp.org ranks it 5 places below merit 18 Anti Spam and list cleaner – AcyChecker 400+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #10 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 8 places above merit 19 Power Captcha reCAPTCHA 900+ · 4.3★ (4) wp.org #14 wp.org ranks it 5 places above merit 20 Checkout Guard – Block Fake Orders, Spam & Fraud for WooCommerce 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #18 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 21 R RegiVigil – Spam & Fake Account Protection 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↑1 wp.org ranks it 9 places above merit 22 Fake User Detector 90+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↑1 wp.org ranks it 6 places above merit 23 Advanced Email Domain Restriction 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 24 Anti Fake Orders & IP Blocker 300+ · 1.0★ (2) wp.org #13 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 11 places above merit

Merit ranking caps the install boost at 10M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted 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.