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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “maintenance switch”

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 “maintenance switch”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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

WP Maintenance Mode & Site Under Construction shows at wp.org #8 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 3K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.5★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Temporary Login Without Password places #5 on merit, 5.0★ from 1549 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 CMP – Coming Soon & Maintenance Plugin by NiteoThemes 200K+ · 4.7★ (326) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Maintenance Switch 800+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Maintenance Redirect 10K+ · 4.9★ (24) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Maintenance Mode 8K+ · 4.6★ (14) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Temporary Login Without Password 90K+ · 5.0★ (1549) wp.org #20 15 too low 6 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #16 10 too low 7 Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode by Colorlib 5K+ · 4.7★ (42) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #13 ↑1 5 too low 9 Theme Switcha – Easily Switch Themes for Development and Testing 7K+ · 4.4★ (63) wp.org #10 1 too low 10 Landing Page Builder – Coming Soon page, Maintenance Mode, Lead Page, WordPress Landing Pages 8K+ · 4.6★ (202) wp.org #18 8 too low 11 hCaptcha for WP 70K+ · 4.6★ (88) wp.org #19 ↓2 8 too low 12 Email Encoder – Protect Email Addresses and Phone Numbers 90K+ · 4.9★ (94) wp.org #23 ↑1 11 too low 13 Maintenance mode for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #7 6 too high 14 WP Umbrella: Security Backup Restore & Monitoring 90K+ · 4.8★ (81) wp.org #24 ↓1 10 too low 15 Coming Soon Maintenance Mode 6K+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #5 10 too high 16 Maintenance Mode Made Easy 200+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #12 4 too high 17 Lite Maintenance Mode 400+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #9 8 too high 18 Labinator Minimal Maintenance Mode 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #14 4 too high 19 F Fancy Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode 200+ · 3.0★ (10) wp.org #17 ↑2 2 too high 20 WP Maintenance Mode & Site Under Construction 3K+ · 3.5★ (4) wp.org #8 12 too high 21 Kadence Central – Site Management, Backups, Security, and Reporting 30K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #22 1 too low 22 Speedx – Maintenance Mode 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 11 too high 23 Amitry Maintenance Mode & Coming Soon 80+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 8 too high 24 Limbus Maintenance Page & Shop Pause 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 3 too high

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.