wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “no more passwords”
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 “no more passwords”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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
No Weak Passwords shows at wp.org #11 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
Envira Gallery – Image Photo Gallery, Albums, Video Gallery, Slideshows & More places #11 on merit, 4.7★ from 1,598 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
How this rank is calculated
Each plugin's merit score multiplies these inputs together: how recently it was updated, how current its "tested up to" WordPress version is, its install base (log scale, capped at 10 million), its support thread resolution rate, and a rating score. The rating score weights the star average by review volume against a sitewide prior, then scales it by the lower bound of the share of 4 and 5 star reviews. A plugin with 3.7 stars from tens of thousands of reviews can still outscore a 4.9 with a few dozen, because the small sample carries less certainty.
A health factor between 0.4 and 1.15 then adjusts that score for what wp.org's search can't see: PHP fatals or failed activations on a test install, PHP and WordPress compatibility, memory and page-speed footprint, suspicious review patterns, closure risk, and a large install base with very few reviews. Clean, adopted plugins earn a small lift.
A keyword ranking starts from wp.org's search order for the term, weighting each position by 1 divided by its place, then applies the merit correction and health factor above. Relevance to the keyword stays in the result, so the order can differ from the all-categories list on /best, which scores plugins with no search term.
Hover a row to see the main reason for its position.
Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7,322)
wp.org #1 2 
Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4,940)
wp.org #2 3 
Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5,043)
wp.org #3 ↑1 4 
WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14,389)
wp.org #4 ↓1 5 
WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More 4M+ · 4.8★ (5,211)
wp.org #5 6 
Kadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection 700K+ · 4.6★ (3,992)
wp.org #8 ↑1 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 7 
Password Protected 300K+ · 4.4★ (142)
wp.org #6 ↑6 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 8 
Events Manager – Calendar, Bookings, Tickets, Appointments and more! 60K+ · 4.2★ (551)
wp.org #9 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 9 
hCaptcha for WP 70K+ · 4.6★ (88)
wp.org #7 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 10 
PPWP – Password Protect Pages 30K+ · 4.7★ (272)
wp.org #12 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 11 Envira Gallery – Image Photo Gallery, Albums, Video Gallery, Slideshows & More 100K+ · 4.7★ (1,598)
wp.org #19 ↓5 wp.org ranks it 8 places below merit 12 
All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1,720)
wp.org #16 wp.org ranks it 4 places below merit 13 
Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (398)
wp.org #18 ↑1 wp.org ranks it 5 places below merit 14 
Brevo – Email, SMS, Web Push, Chat, and more. 100K+ · 4.1★ (284)
wp.org #14 15 
Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8,870)
wp.org #24 wp.org ranks it 9 places below merit 16 
Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423)
wp.org #21 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 5 places below merit 17 
Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262)
wp.org #20 ↓4 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 18 
Easy WP SMTP – WordPress SMTP and Email Logs: Gmail SMTP, Office 365, Outlook, Custom SMTP, and more 500K+ · 4.6★ (709)
wp.org #23 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 5 places below merit 19 
FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (412)
wp.org #22 ↓4 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 20 
Passster – Password Protect Pages and Content 10K+ · 4.2★ (60)
wp.org #13 wp.org ranks it 7 places above merit 21 
Disable Application Passwords 3K+ · 5.0★ (9) thin reviews
wp.org #10 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 11 places above merit 22 
Magic Login – Magic Link & Passwordless Authentication for WordPress – Login Without Password 3K+ · 4.8★ (26)
wp.org #17 wp.org ranks it 5 places above merit 23 
Password Policy Manager 6K+ · 4.4★ (14) thin reviews
wp.org #15 wp.org ranks it 8 places above merit 24 N No Weak Passwords 300+ · 4.0★ (4) thin reviews
wp.org #11 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 13 places above merit Merit ranking caps the install boost at 10M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted 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.