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

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 “paywalls”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

imoje shows at wp.org #7 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Headers Security Advanced & HSTS WP places #8 on merit, 4.9★ from 79 reviews, but shows at wp.org #12. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Leaky Paywall 600+ · 4.2★ (35) wp.org #1 2

Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #4 ↓1 2 too low 3

s2Member – Excellent for All Kinds of Memberships, Content Restriction Paywalls & Member Access Subscriptions 8K+ · 4.1★ (234) wp.org #2 1 too high 4

FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too high 5

Content Control – The Ultimate Content Restriction Solution! Restrict Content, Create Conditional Blocks & More 40K+ · 4.9★ (575) wp.org #8 3 too low 6

ProfilePress – Paid Membership, Online Courses (LMS), Ecommerce, User Registration & Login Form, User Profile & Restrict Content 100K+ · 3.1★ (938) wp.org #6 ↓1 7

Headers Security Advanced & HSTS WP 90K+ · 4.9★ (79) wp.org #12 4 too low 9

Zlick Paywall 100+ · 5.0★ (10) thin reviews wp.org #5 ↑1 4 too high 10

YaySMTP – WP Mail SMTP with Email Logs, Tracking & Reports 10K+ · 4.9★ (45) wp.org #14 4 too low 11

Secure Copy Content Protection and Content Locking 20K+ · 4.3★ (62) wp.org #13 2 too low 12

FluentSnippets – High-Performance Code Snippets, Header & Footer Code, Custom CSS & PHP Code Manager 50K+ · 4.7★ (78) wp.org #16 ↓1 4 too low 13

Pay For Post with WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.7★ (53) wp.org #19 6 too low 14

Cimo – Free Instant Image Optimizer & WebP Converter 10K+ · 4.9★ (20) thin reviews wp.org #17 3 too low 15

Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 3K+ · 5.0★ (24) thin reviews wp.org #20 ↑1 5 too low 16

Meow Mailer – Free SMTP, Everything Included 900+ · 5.0★ (26) wp.org #22 ↑2 6 too low 17

Protected Video 1K+ · 4.7★ (15) thin reviews wp.org #18 1 too low 18

Steady for WordPress 600+ · 3.0★ (10) thin reviews wp.org #10 8 too high 19

imoje 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #7 12 too high 20

Expandable Paywall 10+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #15 ↑1 5 too high 21

Buy Me a Coffee – Membership, Paywall & Fundraiser with Stripe & PayPal 90+ · 4.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #11 10 too high 22

Pigeon Paywall 50+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #23 ↓1 1 too low 23

PostGate – Paywall, Membership & Stripe Subscriptions 10+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #24 ↓1 1 too low 24

Substack Importer 1K+ · 2.8★ (4) thin reviews wp.org #21 ↓1 3 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.