Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “infection removal”

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 “infection removal”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

Segurium – Free Malware Removal & Auto Cleanup for Hacked Websites, Antivirus Scanner, Vulnerability Alerts shows at wp.org #6 but places #13 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Security Ninja – WordPress Security & Firewall places #6 on merit, 4.7★ from 101 reviews, but shows at wp.org #12. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

How this rank is calculated

Each plugin's merit score multiplies these inputs together: how recently it was updated, how current its "tested up to" WordPress version is, its install base (log scale, capped at 10 million), its support thread resolution rate, and a rating score. The rating score weights the star average by review volume against a sitewide prior, then scales it by the lower bound of the share of 4 and 5 star reviews. A plugin with 3.7 stars from tens of thousands of reviews can still outscore a 4.9 with a few dozen, because the small sample carries less certainty.

A health factor between 0.4 and 1.15 then adjusts that score for what wp.org's search can't see: PHP fatals or failed activations on a test install, PHP and WordPress compatibility, memory and page-speed footprint, suspicious review patterns, closure risk, and a large install base with very few reviews. Clean, adopted plugins earn a small lift.

A keyword ranking starts from wp.org's search order for the term, weighting each position by 1 divided by its place, then applies the merit correction and health factor above. Relevance to the keyword stays in the result, so the order can differ from the all-categories list on /best, which scores plugins with no search term.

Hover a row to see the main reason for its position.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (398) wp.org #1 2 Malcure Malware Shield — Removal, Repair, Monitor 10K+ · 4.4★ (74) wp.org #2 3 Jetpack Protect 100K+ · 4.6★ (123) wp.org #3 4 Anti-Malware Security and Brute-Force Firewall 100K+ · 4.9★ (783) wp.org #7 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 5 Hide My WP Ghost – Security & Firewall 100K+ · 4.5★ (373) wp.org #10 wp.org ranks it 5 places below merit 6 Security Ninja – WordPress Security & Firewall 7K+ · 4.7★ (101) wp.org #12 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 6 places below merit 7 Advanced IP Blocker 3K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #11 wp.org ranks it 4 places below merit 8 Site Lockdown Security 800+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #5 wp.org ranks it 3 places above merit 9 Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 3K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #16 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 7 places below merit 10 DevDome Malware Scanner – WordPress Malware Removal & Security Scanner 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #4 wp.org ranks it 6 places above merit 11 WebDefender Security – Protection & AntiSpam 1K+ · 4.0★ (18) wp.org #13 ↓3 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 12 Virusdie | One-click website security 2K+ · 4.0★ (9) wp.org #8 ↑1 wp.org ranks it 4 places above merit 13 Segurium – Free Malware Removal & Auto Cleanup for Hacked Websites, Antivirus Scanner, Vulnerability Alerts 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #6 wp.org ranks it 7 places above merit 14 Fresh Plugins 300+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #9 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 5 places above merit 15 Moatline Malware Scanner 30+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #18 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 16 VulnTitan – Malware Scanner, Vulnerability Scanner & Security 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #14 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 17 MoeSec Security – Comprehensive Malware Scanner & Security Suite 50+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 18 Stillward Security 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↓3 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 19 Content Guard Pro – Database Malware Scanner & SEO Spam Detector 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 20 Lunexia Security – .htaccess Shield, Firewall, Two Factor Authentication (2FA) & Malware Protection — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 21 Luketom Compromise Review 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 22 Banana Defender – GDPR-Compliant Firewall, Scanner & Virtual Patching for WordPress 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 23 Guardian Gaze Security – Malware & Database Scanner, File Integrity Monitoring, IP Blocking 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 24 Nexura Security — Malware Scanner, Firewall, 2FA & WordPress Security 20+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #19 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 5 places above merit

Merit ranking caps the install boost at 10M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted 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.