wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “one click login”

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 “one click login”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

FluentAuth – Login Security, Two-Factor Authentication, Passkeys & Social Login shows at wp.org #11 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.1★ average from 35 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Temporary Login Without Password places #5 on merit, 5.0★ from 1,550 reviews, but shows at wp.org #9. 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.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5,043) wp.org #1 2

All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1,720) wp.org #2 3

WPS Hide Login 2M+ · 4.8★ (2,111) wp.org #4 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 4

Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2,146) wp.org #7 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 5

Temporary Login Without Password 90K+ · 5.0★ (1,550) wp.org #9 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 4 places below merit 6

Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2,409) wp.org #6 ↑3 7

All In One Login 60K+ · 3.6★ (35) wp.org #3 ↑2 wp.org ranks it 4 places above merit 8

Security Optimizer – The All-In-One Protection Plugin 1M+ · 4.5★ (158) wp.org #5 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 3 places above merit 9

Defender Security – Malware Scanner, Login Security & Firewall 80K+ · 4.8★ (334) wp.org #10 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 10

One User Avatar | User Profile Picture 100K+ · 4.7★ (41) wp.org #8 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 11

Login & Register Customizer – Forms, Popup, Profile & WooCommerce 30K+ · 4.8★ (254) wp.org #15 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 13

Custom Login Page Customizer 50K+ · 4.9★ (477) wp.org #19 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 6 places below merit 14

Nextend Social Login and Register 200K+ · 4.9★ (447) wp.org #18 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 4 places below merit 15

Clean Login 5K+ · 4.7★ (144) wp.org #14 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 16

Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7,522) wp.org #23 ↓4 wp.org ranks it 7 places below merit 17

FluentAuth – Login Security, Two-Factor Authentication, Passkeys & Social Login 10K+ · 4.1★ (35) wp.org #11 ↑11 wp.org ranks it 7 places above merit 19

Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #22 ↓11 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 20

Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 3K+ · 5.0★ (24) thin reviews wp.org #20 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 23

Intranet & Private Site – All-In-One Intranet 3K+ · 5.0★ (11) thin reviews wp.org #17 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 6 places above merit 24

LWS Hide Login 20K+ · 4.7★ (12) thin reviews wp.org #24

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.