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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “hidden posts”

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 “hidden posts”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 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.

H

Ranked above its merit

Hidden Password Protected Pages shows at wp.org #12 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 600+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 2144 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #1 ↑1 2 Duplicate Post 300K+ · 4.9★ (1623) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails 100K+ · 4.8★ (215) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 Simple Custom Post Order 300K+ · 4.8★ (588) wp.org #5 ↓2 1 too low 5 User Submitted Posts – Enable Users to Submit Posts from the Front End 10K+ · 4.8★ (913) wp.org #8 ↓2 3 too low 6 Folders – Unlimited Folders to Organize Media Library Folder, Pages, Posts, File Manager 90K+ · 5.0★ (1526) wp.org #10 ↑8 4 too low 7 Delete Duplicate Posts 10K+ · 4.8★ (153) wp.org #7 ↑1 8 Hide Posts 20K+ · 4.7★ (22) wp.org #4 ↑1 4 too high 9 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #15 ↓2 6 too low 10 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #18 ↓4 8 too low 11 Unlist Posts & Pages 10K+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #6 ↑1 5 too high 12 WebberZone Top 10 — Popular Posts 10K+ · 4.6★ (102) wp.org #17 ↑2 5 too low 13 Public Post Preview 100K+ · 4.6★ (79) wp.org #16 3 too low 14 Reorder Posts – Quick Post Type and Page Ordering 10K+ · 3.9★ (28) wp.org #9 5 too high 15 Smart Post – Post Grid, Post Carousel, Post Slider Gutenberg Blocks for Blog & News 20K+ · 4.7★ (210) wp.org #22 7 too low 16 Ultimate Post Kit – Elementor Post Grid, Post Carousel, Post Slider & Blog Layout Widgets 30K+ · 4.8★ (58) wp.org #19 ↓2 3 too low 17 Category AJAX Filter – Posts, Custom Post Types & Product Filter 6K+ · 4.9★ (158) wp.org #24 7 too low 18 Posts Table with Search & Sort 3K+ · 4.6★ (19) wp.org #11 ↑4 7 too high 19 bbPress 100K+ · 3.9★ (343) wp.org #23 ↓3 4 too low 20 User Posts Limit 3K+ · 5.0★ (13) wp.org #13 ↓1 7 too high 21 Weaver Show Posts 5K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #14 ↓3 7 too high 22 Duplicate Post – duplicate pages, copy content, clone posts 5K+ · 4.7★ (7) wp.org #20 2 too high 23 H Hidden Password Protected Pages 600+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #12 ↓2 11 too high 24 Auto Post Cleaner 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) 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.