Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “http auth”

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 “http auth”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 of the top 20. 2 plugins are 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.

Ranked above its merit

LogixFast Auth shows at wp.org #11 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 10+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More places #6 on merit, 4.8★ from 5209 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 WP Cron HTTP Auth 1K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 HTTP Headers 40K+ · 4.3★ (70) wp.org #3 ↑2 4 Loginizer 1M+ · 4.8★ (1033) wp.org #8 ↑1 4 too low 5 Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (397) wp.org #12 ↓1 7 too low 6 WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More 4M+ · 4.8★ (5209) wp.org #14 8 too low 7 WP SAML Auth 7K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #4 ↓1 3 too high 8 WPS Limit Login 100K+ · 4.9★ (83) wp.org #16 8 too low 9 JSON API Auth 600+ · 4.7★ (11) wp.org #6 3 too high 10 Proxy Cache Purge 50K+ · 4.4★ (26) wp.org #7 3 too high 11 WPGet API – Connect to any external REST API 10K+ · 5.0★ (32) wp.org #18 7 too low 12 HTTP Auth 6K+ · 4.2★ (6) wp.org #5 ↓1 7 too high 13 Simple JWT Login – Allows you to use JWT on REST endpoints. 4K+ · 5.0★ (47) wp.org #20 7 too low 14 NinjaFirewall (WP Edition) – Advanced Security Plugin and Firewall 100K+ · 4.9★ (220) wp.org #19 5 too low 15 Connect Matomo – Analytics Dashboard for WordPress 60K+ · 4.5★ (95) wp.org #15 16 JWT Authentication for WP REST API 60K+ · 4.4★ (53) wp.org #17 1 too low 17 A API Bearer Auth 300+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #9 ↑1 8 too high 18 FluentAuth – Login Security, Two-Factor Authentication, Passkeys & Social Login 10K+ · 4.1★ (35) wp.org #23 5 too low 19 C Contact Form 7 to API 1K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #10 9 too high 20 Royal MCP – Secure AI Connector for Claude, ChatGPT & any LLM via MCP 10K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #21 1 too low 21 Easy Basic Authentication – Add basic auth to site or admin area 800+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #13 ↓1 8 too high 22 LogixFast Auth 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 ↑2 11 too high 23 Edel Auth for Supabase 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 1 too high 24 Wapu Auth – Social Login for WordPress and WooCommerce 70+ · 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.