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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “forget password”

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 “forget password”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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

Password Protect – Temporary Login Without Password & Password Protect Entire Site shows at wp.org #4 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 200+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.7★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

UsersWP – Front-end login form, User Registration, User Profile & Members Directory plugin for WP places #10 on merit, 4.7★ from 183 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Temporary Login Without Password 90K+ · 5.0★ (1550) wp.org #1 2 LoginPress | wp-login Custom Login Page Customizer 200K+ · 4.8★ (1077) wp.org #2 3 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #3 ↑2 4 Defender Security – Malware Scanner, Login Security & Firewall 80K+ · 4.8★ (334) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too low 5 Quiz Maker by AYS 20K+ · 4.9★ (601) wp.org #8 ↑7 3 too low 6 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #9 ↑2 3 too low 7 Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 3K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 SecuPress with Simple SSL – Simple and Performant Security 40K+ · 4.1★ (106) wp.org #11 ↓2 3 too low 9 EmailKit – Email Customizer for WooCommerce & WP 70K+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #7 2 too high 10 UsersWP – Front-end login form, User Registration, User Profile & Members Directory plugin for WP 20K+ · 4.7★ (183) wp.org #19 ↓1 9 too low 11 Secure Copy Content Protection and Content Locking 20K+ · 4.3★ (62) wp.org #13 ↓3 2 too low 12 Solid Mail – SMTP email and logging made by SolidWP 60K+ · 4.2★ (52) wp.org #12 13 Salt Shaker 7K+ · 4.7★ (27) wp.org #10 ↓2 3 too high 14 Login as User: See the Site as Any User 30K+ · 4.8★ (41) wp.org #15 ↑1 1 too low 15 Uncanny Toolkit for LearnDash 20K+ · 4.8★ (105) wp.org #24 9 too low 16 Meow Mailer – Free SMTP, Everything Included 900+ · 5.0★ (26) wp.org #17 1 too low 17 SilentShield – Captcha & Anti-Spam for WordPress (CF7, WPForms, Elementor, WooCommerce) 10K+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #22 5 too low 18 Disable Everything 30K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #14 ↓1 4 too high 19 Password Protect – Temporary Login Without Password & Password Protect Entire Site 200+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #4 ↓1 15 too high 20 Blogmentor – Blog Layouts for Elementor 4K+ · 4.7★ (7) wp.org #18 ↑1 2 too high 21 bbPress Login Register Links On Forum Topic Pages 600+ · 4.1★ (8) wp.org #16 ↓2 5 too high 22 WP User Switch 1K+ · 4.1★ (9) wp.org #20 2 too high 23 Password Strength for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #23 ↑1 24 C CB Lost Password Remover 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 3 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.