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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “hack prevention”

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 “hack prevention”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 4 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

Nexura Security — Malware Scanner, Firewall, 2FA & WordPress Security shows at wp.org #16 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 4 places. Its 20+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Firelight Lightbox places #6 on merit, 4.8★ from 361 reviews, but shows at wp.org #11. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Hide My WP Ghost – Security & Firewall 100K+ · 4.5★ (373) wp.org #1 2 Sucuri Security – Auditing, Malware Scanner and Security Hardening 600K+ · 4.2★ (386) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Protect WP Admin 10K+ · 3.6★ (50) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Patchstack – WordPress & Plugins Security 100K+ · 4.8★ (62) wp.org #4 5 Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 3K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #5 6 Firelight Lightbox 200K+ · 4.8★ (361) wp.org #11 ↓1 5 too low 7 Football Pool 900+ · 4.9★ (83) wp.org #8 ↑1 1 too low 8 Apocalypse Meow 300+ · 5.0★ (23) wp.org #6 2 too high 9 WebDefender Security – Protection & AntiSpam 1K+ · 4.0★ (18) wp.org #9 ↓1 10 Virusdie | One-click website security 2K+ · 4.0★ (9) wp.org #7 3 too high 11 Structure Viewer – AI Context Builder, Code Search & MCP Tools 10+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #10 1 too high 12 Anti-Captcha (anti-spam botblocker) 1K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #19 ↓1 7 too low 13 MCP Content Manager Lite 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↓1 1 too high 14 OnGuard | Advanced French login fraud detection system based on billions of data points. — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 ↓1 1 too high 15 From Unit Converter to Unit-Aware Quantities & Calculators — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↓1 1 too high 16 Brute Force Protector 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 1 too high 17 BrandBees Malware Guardian 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 ↓3 18 S Square Bracket Hack Prevention 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 ↓1 19 W WP_PingPreserver 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↓1 1 too low 20 Nexura Security — Malware Scanner, Firewall, 2FA & WordPress Security 20+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #16 4 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.