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

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 “membership”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 3 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.

S

Ranked above its merit

Simple Membership Form Shortcode shows at wp.org #11 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Spam protection, Honeypot, Anti-Spam by CleanTalk places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 3205 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Simple Membership 40K+ · 4.6★ (475) wp.org #1 2 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1274) wp.org #2 3 Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1444) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 User Registration & Membership – Free & Paid Memberships, Subscriptions, Content Restriction, User Profile, Custom User Registration & Login Builder 50K+ · 4.8★ (828) wp.org #4 ↑1 5 Paid Membership Subscriptions – Effortless Memberships, Recurring Payments & Content Restriction 10K+ · 4.7★ (265) wp.org #5 6 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4819) wp.org #6 7 Spam protection, Honeypot, Anti-Spam by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3205) wp.org #18 ↓1 11 too low 8 WP-Members Membership Plugin 50K+ · 4.6★ (272) wp.org #13 ↓4 5 too low 9 Relevanssi – A Better Search 100K+ · 4.8★ (405) wp.org #17 ↑6 8 too low 10 Groups – Memberships and Access Control 10K+ · 4.8★ (382) wp.org #19 9 too low 11 MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation 500K+ · 4.4★ (1431) wp.org #15 ↓1 4 too low 12 Kit (formerly ConvertKit) – Email Newsletter, Email Marketing, Membership, Subscribers and Landing Pages 40K+ · 4.8★ (90) wp.org #14 ↓1 2 too low 13 S Simple Membership After Login Redirection 10K+ · 4.8★ (15) wp.org #8 ↑2 5 too high 14 WP User Manager – User Profile Builder & Membership 10K+ · 4.7★ (350) wp.org #20 ↓2 6 too low 15 Membership For WooCommerce 900+ · 4.4★ (28) wp.org #10 ↑2 5 too high 16 WCFM Membership – WooCommerce Memberships for Multivendor Marketplace 10K+ · 4.0★ (25) wp.org #9 ↓2 7 too high 17 S Simple Membership Custom Messages 7K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #7 ↑1 10 too high 18 StoreEngine — Complete eCommerce Solution with Memberships, Licensing, Affiliates & More 600+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #16 2 too high 19 s2Member – Excellent for All Kinds of Memberships, Content Restriction Paywalls & Member Access Subscriptions 8K+ · 4.1★ (234) wp.org #24 5 too low 20 Paid Membership Plugin, Ecommerce, User Registration Form, Login Form, User Profile & Restrict Content – ProfilePress 100K+ · 3.1★ (937) wp.org #21 ↓2 1 too low 21 Membership Plugin – Kadence Memberships 9K+ · 3.1★ (99) wp.org #22 ↓8 1 too low 22 S Simple Membership Form Shortcode 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #11 11 too high 23 S Simple Membership WP user Import 4K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #12 11 too high 24 S Simple Membership MailChimp Integration 900+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #23 ↓3 1 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.