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

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 plugin”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 of the top 20. 4 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 Custom Messages shows at wp.org #9 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 7K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Groups – Memberships and Access Control places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 382 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #1 2 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too low 3 Simple Membership 40K+ · 4.6★ (475) wp.org #2 ↑1 1 too high 4 WP-Members Membership Plugin 50K+ · 4.6★ (272) wp.org #4 ↑1 5 Paid Membership Subscriptions – Effortless Memberships, Recurring Payments & Content Restriction 10K+ · 4.7★ (270) wp.org #5 ↓1 6 Business Directory Plugin – Easy Listing & Member Directories for WordPress 10K+ · 4.6★ (504) wp.org #10 ↑5 4 too low 7 User Registration & Membership – Free & Paid Memberships, Subscriptions, Content Restriction, User Profile, Custom User Registration & Login Builder 50K+ · 4.8★ (832) wp.org #19 12 too low 8 Download Plugin 60K+ · 4.5★ (27) wp.org #7 1 too high 9 Relevanssi – A Better Search 100K+ · 4.8★ (406) wp.org #18 ↑2 9 too low 10 Groups – Memberships and Access Control 10K+ · 4.8★ (382) wp.org #24 14 too low 11 Membership Plugin – Kadence Memberships 8K+ · 3.1★ (100) wp.org #6 5 too high 12 Youzify – BuddyPress Community, User Profile, Social Network & Membership Plugin for WordPress 5K+ · 4.8★ (194) wp.org #21 9 too low 13 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #16 ↑1 3 too low 14 GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 100K+ · 4.6★ (708) wp.org #17 ↑1 3 too low 15 S Simple Membership After Login Redirection 10K+ · 4.8★ (15) wp.org #12 3 too high 16 Memberful – Membership Plugin 1K+ · 4.7★ (13) wp.org #11 5 too high 17 WCFM Membership – WooCommerce Memberships for Multivendor Marketplace 10K+ · 4.0★ (25) wp.org #8 9 too high 18 Membership For WooCommerce 800+ · 4.4★ (28) wp.org #13 5 too high 19 s2Member – Excellent for All Kinds of Memberships, Content Restriction Paywalls & Member Access Subscriptions 8K+ · 4.1★ (234) wp.org #23 4 too low 20 S Simple Membership Custom Messages 7K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #9 11 too high 21 WP Plugin Manager – Deactivate plugins per page 3K+ · 4.4★ (23) wp.org #22 ↑1 1 too low 22 S Simple Membership WP user Import 4K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #14 8 too high 23 S Simple Membership Form Shortcode 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 ↑1 8 too high 24 S Simple Membership MailChimp Integration 900+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #20 ↑2 4 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.