Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “hotlinking”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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

Htaccess by BestWebSoft – WordPress Website Access Control Plugin shows at wp.org #3 but places #9 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 400+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #1 2 ThumbPress – Compress Images, Manage Thumbnails, Detect Image Issues, WebP/AVIF, Lazy Loading, Hotlinking & More 20K+ · 3.7★ (117) wp.org #2 3 Prevent Direct Access – Protect WordPress Files 10K+ · 4.6★ (297) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too low 4 WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click 100K+ · 4.8★ (1138) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Simple Download Monitor 20K+ · 4.7★ (158) wp.org #5 ↓1 6 Media Library Folders 10K+ · 4.3★ (465) wp.org #7 ↑2 1 too low 7 ImgSEO – AI Image Alt Text Generator & Image SEO Tools 400+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #10 ↑1 3 too low 8 Rocketship SEO 10+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #18 ↑2 10 too low 9 Htaccess by BestWebSoft – WordPress Website Access Control Plugin 400+ · 4.0★ (2) wp.org #3 6 too high 10 Hotlink File Prevention 600+ · 4.9★ (7) wp.org #19 9 too low 11 SEO’n’AI – AI Image check&mark 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #11 ↑1 12 RSS Retriever Lite 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 ↓1 4 too high 13 BlogSEO 90+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 ↑1 4 too high 14 Replace External Images 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↑1 2 too high 15 导入微信文章 (Import Articles from WeChat) 200+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 ↑1 2 too high 16 Reviews for Google My Business 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↑2 2 too high 17 DraftSEO.ai 60+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 2 too high 18 ContentShield Lite 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↑1 2 too high 19 DCI Job Listing — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↑1 1 too low 20 BitSplit Media Delivery — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↑1 1 too low 21 Bender – Mosaic Image Protection — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 ↑1 4 too high 22 Cambusa Eventi — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 ↑1 23 Klassifieds for WooCommerce 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↑1 24 ListenUp 10+ · 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.