wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “memberships”
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 “memberships”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 5 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
RealHomes Memberships shows at wp.org #7 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation places #12 on merit, 4.4★ from 1435 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.
Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281)
wp.org #1 2 
Paid Membership Subscriptions – Effortless Memberships, Recurring Payments & Content Restriction 10K+ · 4.7★ (270)
wp.org #2 3 
Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445)
wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too low 4 
Simple Membership 40K+ · 4.6★ (475) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #3 ↑3 1 too high 5 
User Registration & Membership – Free & Paid Memberships, Subscriptions, Content Restriction, User Profile, Custom User Registration & Login Builder 50K+ · 4.8★ (832)
wp.org #6 ↓2 1 too low 6 
WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) throws errorsnot PHP-currentheavy footprint
wp.org #5 1 too high 7 
WP-Members Membership Plugin 50K+ · 4.6★ (272)
wp.org #8 ↑8 1 too low 8 
Groups – Memberships and Access Control 10K+ · 4.8★ (382)
wp.org #10 ↓1 2 too low 9 
Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220)
wp.org #14 ↓1 5 too low 10 
Import and export users and customers 70K+ · 4.7★ (259)
wp.org #15 ↓1 5 too low 11 
Relevanssi – A Better Search 100K+ · 4.8★ (406)
wp.org #17 ↓5 6 too low 12 MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation 500K+ · 4.4★ (1435) heavy footprint
wp.org #20 ↓3 8 too low 13 
Kit (formerly ConvertKit) – Email Newsletter, Email Marketing, Membership, Subscribers and Landing Pages 40K+ · 4.8★ (90)
wp.org #18 ↑1 5 too low 14 
Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408)
wp.org #19 5 too low 15 
Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) not PHP-current
wp.org #23 ↓3 8 too low 16 
s2Member – Excellent for All Kinds of Memberships, Content Restriction Paywalls & Member Access Subscriptions 8K+ · 4.1★ (234) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #16 ↓1 17 
Membership Plugin – Kadence Memberships 8K+ · 3.1★ (100) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #9 ↓1 8 too high 18 
StoreEngine — Complete eCommerce Solution with Memberships, Licensing, Affiliates & More 700+ · 5.0★ (17) not PHP-current thin reviews
wp.org #13 5 too high 19 
User Frontend – Membership, User Registration, User Profile, User Directory & Content Restriction with Frontend Post Submission 20K+ · 4.1★ (537) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #24 5 too low 20 
WCFM Membership – WooCommerce Memberships for Multivendor Marketplace 10K+ · 4.0★ (25) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #11 ↓1 9 too high 21 S Simple Membership After Login Redirection 10K+ · 4.8★ (15) thin reviews
wp.org #21 ↑1 22 
Subscriptions & Memberships for PayPal 900+ · 3.9★ (12) thin reviews
wp.org #12 ↓1 10 too high 23 RealHomes Memberships 1K+ · 4.3★ (4) thin reviews
wp.org #7 16 too high 24 S Simple Membership Custom Messages 7K+ · 5.0★ (4) thin reviews
wp.org #22 ↑1 2 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.