Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “post locking”

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 “post locking”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 6 of the top 20. 3 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.

Z

Ranked above its merit

Zone Manager (Zoninator) shows at wp.org #9 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin places #12 on merit, 4.9★ from 4228 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346) wp.org #1 2 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too low 3 Secure Copy Content Protection and Content Locking 20K+ · 4.3★ (62) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Kadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection 700K+ · 4.6★ (3992) wp.org #6 ↑3 2 too low 5 User Access Manager 10K+ · 4.4★ (112) wp.org #5 ↑1 6 Quttera ThreatSign – Web Malware Scanner for WordPress 10K+ · 3.9★ (47) wp.org #4 ↑1 2 too high 7 WPVibe – MCP Server for WordPress, works with Claude, ChatGPT & other AI MCP agents 100K+ · 5.0★ (195) wp.org #11 4 too low 8 Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) wp.org #7 1 too high 9 Shield Security – Smart Bot Blocking, Brute-Force Login Protection & File Scanning 30K+ · 4.8★ (1039) wp.org #15 ↑1 6 too low 10 Password Protected 300K+ · 4.4★ (142) wp.org #8 ↓5 2 too high 11 SureForms – Contact Form Builder, AI Forms, Payment Form, Survey & Quiz 500K+ · 4.8★ (102) wp.org #10 ↓2 1 too high 12 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #19 ↓1 7 too low 13 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #21 ↓2 8 too low 14 ATUM WooCommerce Inventory Management and Stock Tracking 10K+ · 4.7★ (128) wp.org #14 ↓1 15 Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205) wp.org #22 7 too low 16 MailOptin – Popup, Optin Forms & Email Newsletters for Mailchimp, HubSpot, AWeber Etc. 10K+ · 4.8★ (438) wp.org #24 ↓2 8 too low 17 FluentCart A New Era of eCommerce – Faster, Lighter, and Simpler 9K+ · 4.5★ (46) wp.org #17 ↑4 18 No Gutenberg? – Choose Where to Use the Block Editor or the Classic Editor 9K+ · 5.0★ (16) wp.org #16 ↓2 2 too high 19 Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) wp.org #18 ↑2 1 too high 20 Sign-up Sheets 1K+ · 4.8★ (16) wp.org #20 ↓3 21 NETSENSAI Shield 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #13 ↑2 8 too high 22 Z Zone Manager (Zoninator) 2K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #9 ↑1 13 too high 23 Nexter Extension – Security, Performance, Code Snippets & Site Toolkit 10K+ · 4.7★ (13) wp.org #23 24 Block Accessibility Checks 90+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 12 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.