Plugin Pulse
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “paywall”

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 “paywall”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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

Buy Me a Coffee – Membership, Paywall & Fundraiser with Stripe & PayPal shows at wp.org #10 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 90+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

FluentSnippets – High-Performance Code Snippets, Header & Footer Code, Custom CSS & PHP Code Manager places #12 on merit, 4.7★ from 77 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Spam protection, Honeypot, Anti-Spam by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3213) wp.org #4 3 too low 2 Leaky Paywall 600+ · 4.2★ (35) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 600K+ · 4.8★ (405) wp.org #5 ↑1 2 too low 4 s2Member – Excellent for All Kinds of Memberships, Content Restriction Paywalls & Member Access Subscriptions 8K+ · 4.1★ (234) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Zlick Paywall 100+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #2 3 too high 6 Read More Without Refresh 20K+ · 4.2★ (55) wp.org #6 ↑1 7 Headers Security Advanced & HSTS WP 90K+ · 4.9★ (79) wp.org #12 ↑1 5 too low 8 Paid Membership Plugin, Ecommerce, User Registration Form, Login Form, User Profile & Restrict Content – ProfilePress 100K+ · 3.1★ (938) wp.org #8 ↑1 9 Cimo – Free Instant Image Optimizer & WebP Converter 10K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #11 ↑1 2 too low 10 Secure Copy Content Protection and Content Locking 20K+ · 4.3★ (62) wp.org #16 ↑1 6 too low 11 YaySMTP – WP Mail SMTP with Email Logs, Tracking & Reports 10K+ · 4.9★ (45) wp.org #18 7 too low 12 FluentSnippets – High-Performance Code Snippets, Header & Footer Code, Custom CSS & PHP Code Manager 50K+ · 4.7★ (77) wp.org #21 ↑1 9 too low 13 Meow Mailer – Free SMTP, Everything Included 700+ · 4.9★ (17) wp.org #17 ↑2 4 too low 14 Protected Video 1K+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #15 ↑1 1 too low 15 Pay For Post with WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.7★ (53) wp.org #19 ↑1 4 too low 16 Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 2K+ · 5.0★ (20) wp.org #23 7 too low 17 Memberful – Membership Plugin 1K+ · 4.7★ (13) wp.org #20 ↑1 3 too low 18 Expandable Paywall 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #7 ↑1 11 too high 19 Squad Modules Lite – Free Divi 5 & Divi 4 Modules for Divi Builder 1K+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #24 5 too low 20 imoje 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #9 ↑1 11 too high 21 SureMembers – Membership & Content Restriction Plugin 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #13 ↑2 8 too high 22 Buy Me a Coffee – Membership, Paywall & Fundraiser with Stripe & PayPal 90+ · 4.0★ (1) wp.org #10 ↑1 12 too high 23 PostGate – Paywall, Content Monetization & Stripe Subscriptions 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 9 too high 24 Substack Importer 1K+ · 2.8★ (4) 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.