wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “paid members”
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 “paid members”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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
Recapture for Paid Memberships Pro shows at wp.org #14 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 30+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
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.
Paid Membership Subscriptions – Effortless Memberships, Recurring Payments & Content Restriction 10K+ · 4.7★ (270)
wp.org #1 2 
Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1,281)
wp.org #2 3 
Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1,445)
wp.org #3 4 
User Registration & Membership – Free & Paid Memberships, Subscriptions, Content Restriction, User Profile, Custom User Registration & Login Builder 50K+ · 4.8★ (832)
wp.org #4 ↑1 5 
Business Directory Plugin – Easy Listing & Member Directories for WordPress 10K+ · 4.6★ (504)
wp.org #6 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 6 
User Profile Builder – Beautiful User Registration Forms, User Profiles & User Role Editor 40K+ · 4.7★ (738)
wp.org #9 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 7 
ProfilePress – Paid Membership, Online Courses (LMS), Ecommerce, User Registration & Login Form, User Profile & Restrict Content 100K+ · 3.1★ (938) low rating, top placement
wp.org #5 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 8 
Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262)
wp.org #7 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 9 
Import and export users and customers 70K+ · 4.7★ (259)
wp.org #8 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 10 
Simple Membership 40K+ · 4.6★ (476)
wp.org #10 ↑3 11 
Events Manager – Calendar, Bookings, Tickets, Appointments and more! 60K+ · 4.2★ (551)
wp.org #12 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 12 
WP User Manager – Registration Form, Login Form, User Profile Builder & Member Directory 10K+ · 4.7★ (350)
wp.org #15 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 13 
BuddyPress 90K+ · 4.1★ (375)
wp.org #13 ↓1 14 
s2Member – Excellent for All Kinds of Memberships, Content Restriction Paywalls & Member Access Subscriptions 8K+ · 4.1★ (234)
wp.org #11 wp.org ranks it 3 places above merit 15 
WP Armour – Honeypot Anti Spam 400K+ · 5.0★ (1,475)
wp.org #21 ↓3 wp.org ranks it 6 places below merit 16 
Better Messages – Chat Rooms, Group Chat, Private Messages & AI Chat Bots 10K+ · 4.8★ (142)
wp.org #16 ↑3 17 
Simple Custom Post Order 300K+ · 4.8★ (588)
wp.org #20 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 18 
LoginWP (Formerly Peter's Login Redirect) 80K+ · 4.8★ (503)
wp.org #22 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 4 places below merit 19 
Free Downloads WooCommerce 4K+ · 4.7★ (85)
wp.org #24 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 5 places below merit 20 
FuseWP – WordPress User Sync to Email List & Marketing Automation (Mailchimp, Constant Contact, ActiveCampaign etc.) 2K+ · 4.9★ (25)
wp.org #19 ↓3 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 21 
SureDash – Community, Courses & Member Dashboard 1K+ · 4.3★ (23) thin reviews
wp.org #17 wp.org ranks it 4 places above merit 22 
ExpressTechSoftwares Discord Add-on for Paid Memberships Pro 600+ · 4.3★ (20) thin reviews
wp.org #18 ↓3 wp.org ranks it 4 places above merit 23 
Zoho Flow – No-Code Workflow Automation 5K+ · 5.0★ (13) thin reviews
wp.org #23 24 Recapture for Paid Memberships Pro 30+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews
wp.org #14 wp.org ranks it 10 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.