Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “hotlink”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 3 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 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

Tutor LMS BunnyNet Integration shows at wp.org #5 but places #10 on merit, a gap of 5 places. Its 1K+ 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 ThumbPress – Compress Images, Manage Thumbnails, Detect Image Issues, WebP/AVIF, Lazy Loading, Hotlinking & More 20K+ · 3.7★ (117) wp.org #1 ↑1 2 Tutor LMS – eLearning and online course solution 100K+ · 4.4★ (590) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too low 3 Featured Image from URL (FIFU) 60K+ · 4.6★ (264) wp.org #4 ↓3 1 too low 4 Protect Uploads 30K+ · 4.8★ (12) wp.org #2 ↑1 2 too high 5 SecuPress with Simple SSL – Simple and Performant Security 40K+ · 4.1★ (106) wp.org #6 ↑1 1 too low 6 Support Genix – Helpdesk, AI Chatbot, Knowledge Base & Customer Support Ticketing System 3K+ · 4.5★ (10) wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too low 7 ImgSEO – AI Image Alt Text Generator & Image SEO Tools 400+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #9 ↑1 2 too low 8 Hotlink File Prevention 600+ · 4.9★ (7) wp.org #8 9 SuperFlare Cache – Cloudflare Cache & Auto-Purging 60+ · 4.4★ (9) wp.org #10 ↑1 1 too low 10 Tutor LMS BunnyNet Integration 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #5 5 too high 11 FileDeck – Document Library & Download Manager 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #11 ↑1 12 C Cache Images 1K+ · 4.0★ (6) wp.org #18 ↓1 6 too low 13 PTP Private Media 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↑3 1 too high 14 Rank SEO – Smart Content Optimization by Rankal — · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #21 7 too low 15 ContentShield Lite 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 2 too high 16 Shield WP Admin 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 2 too high 17 Image Integrity Scanner 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 ↑3 2 too high 18 Locktura Security 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 ↑2 1 too high 19 TopoSEO Importer for Substack — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 20 D Divine Apparitions Uploads Proxy — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 21 Nokko RSS Aggregator — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 5 too high 22 Prismix Core — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 23 Ghostpix Broken Image Cleaner — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 24 Nefudaya — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24

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.