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

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 “memberpress”, 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

Extra Styling for MemberPress shows at wp.org #2 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 400+ 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

MailOptin – Popup, Optin Forms & Email Newsletters for Mailchimp, HubSpot, AWeber Etc. places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 438 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #1 2

Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #3 1 too low 3

Spectra Legacy – Gutenberg Blocks 1M+ · 4.7★ (1872) wp.org #4 1 too low 4

MC4WP: Mailchimp for WordPress 1M+ · 4.8★ (1497) wp.org #5 ↑4 1 too low 5

Limit Login Attempts Security – Login Security, 2FA, Firewall, Brute Force Prevention 1M+ · 4.8★ (1489) wp.org #8 ↓3 3 too low 6

Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205) wp.org #10 4 too low 7

LoginWP (Formerly Peter's Login Redirect) 80K+ · 4.8★ (503) wp.org #12 ↓1 5 too low 8

PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links 200K+ · 4.8★ (1322) wp.org #14 ↓1 6 too low 9

Social Login, Social Sharing by miniOrange 10K+ · 4.6★ (356) wp.org #16 ↑1 7 too low 10

ThirstyAffiliates – Affiliate Links, Link Branding, Link Tracking & Marketing Plugin 30K+ · 4.6★ (251) wp.org #18 ↑4 8 too low 11

MailOptin – Popup, Optin Forms & Email Newsletters for Mailchimp, HubSpot, AWeber Etc. 10K+ · 4.8★ (438) wp.org #22 ↓1 11 too low 12

Spam Protection | Maspik 30K+ · 4.7★ (87) wp.org #21 ↓3 7 too low 15

Pronamic Pay 2K+ · 4.8★ (84) wp.org #23 ↑1 8 too low 16

ExactMetrics – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Plugin) 200K+ · 2.5★ (1546) wp.org #17 ↓1 1 too low 17

Variation Swatches for WooCommerce – Color, Image & Size Swatches 200K+ · 4.6★ (51) wp.org #20 ↓1 3 too low 18

ExpressTechSoftwares Addon for MemberPress and Discord 200+ · 4.5★ (8) thin reviews wp.org #9 ↓1 9 too high 19

Extra Styling for MemberPress 400+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #2 17 too high 20

ActiveLayer Anti-Spam: Spam Protection for Forms & Comments 10K+ · 4.9★ (10) thin reviews wp.org #19 1 too high 21

MemberPress Square — Accept Square Payments in MemberPress 60+ · 5.0★ (8) thin reviews wp.org #15 ↓3 6 too high 22

WP Courseware for MemberPress 100+ · 3.0★ (4) thin reviews wp.org #6 ↑1 16 too high 23

WPJ Reports for MemberPress 100+ · 5.0★ (6) thin reviews wp.org #24 ↓4 1 too low 24

Paystack MemberPress 300+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #7 ↓1 17 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.