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

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 “ithemes”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

Kadence Central – Site Management, Backups, Security, and Reporting shows at wp.org #3 but places #13 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 30K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.2★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Temporary Login Without Password places #9 on merit, 5.0★ from 1550 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Kadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection 700K+ · 4.6★ (3992) wp.org #1 2 Log cleaner for Kadence Security 7K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #2 ↑6 3 MalCare WordPress Security Plugin – Malware Scanner, Cleaner, Security Firewall 100K+ · 4.4★ (559) wp.org #5 ↑1 2 too low 4 BetterDocs – AI Documentation, Knowledge Base, MCP Server, Docs, Wikis, FAQ & Chatbot 30K+ · 4.8★ (515) wp.org #10 ↓6 6 too low 5 Simple Client Dashboard 2K+ · 4.5★ (26) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too high 6 Affiliates Manager 8K+ · 4.1★ (61) wp.org #6 ↓1 7 WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470) wp.org #19 ↑1 12 too low 8 Advanced Form Integration — Connect Forms to 300+ Apps 9K+ · 4.8★ (91) wp.org #11 3 too low 9 Temporary Login Without Password 90K+ · 5.0★ (1550) wp.org #23 ↓1 14 too low 10 Easy Property Listings 5K+ · 4.7★ (112) wp.org #12 2 too low 11 Membership Plugin – Kadence Memberships 8K+ · 3.1★ (100) wp.org #7 4 too high 12 WPComplete 1K+ · 4.1★ (43) wp.org #8 ↑2 4 too high 13 Kadence Central – Site Management, Backups, Security, and Reporting 30K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #3 ↓1 10 too high 14 Royal MCP – Secure AI Connector for Claude, ChatGPT & any LLM via MCP 10K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #9 5 too high 15 VPN Guard – Block VPN, Proxy, Bots & Anonymous Visitors 200+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #13 2 too high 16 ITX UserOps — User Management, Login Activity, Sessions & Audit Log 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #18 2 too low 17 Usercentrics Privacy Policy Generator 1K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 3 too high 18 Hack-Info 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 3 too high 19 S Simple Page Cache 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 3 too high 20 Nahnu Asset Scanner 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 3 too high 21 Notice Interceptor 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↓2 1 too high 22 Fortress Login Pro – Secure, Hide & Rename Login URL 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↓2 1 too high 23 ACF My Media Cluster — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 ↓1 1 too high 24 PowerPlus — All-in-One Powerful Toolkit — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 ↓1

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.