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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “private site”

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 “private site”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 2 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

Private Website – Login Required shows at wp.org #14 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 200+ 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.

Buried gem

Anti-Spam by CleanTalk – Spam Protection Without CAPTCHA places #9 on merit, 4.8★ from 3214 reviews, but shows at wp.org #13. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 My Private Site – Make Your Whole Site Private, Force Login & Block Registration Spam 10K+ · 4.5★ (82) wp.org #1 2 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7507) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2774) wp.org #5 ↑1 2 too low 4 Intranet & Private Site – All-In-One Intranet 3K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #2 2 too high 5 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1278) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 Better Messages – Chat Rooms, Group Chat, Private Messages & AI Chat Bots 10K+ · 4.8★ (142) wp.org #6 ↓1 7 P Private groups 1K+ · 4.9★ (49) wp.org #3 4 too high 8 Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #9 1 too low 9 Anti-Spam by CleanTalk – Spam Protection Without CAPTCHA 200K+ · 4.8★ (3214) wp.org #13 ↑1 4 too low 10 User Private Files – Secure File Sharing and Client Portal Plugin 1K+ · 4.4★ (57) wp.org #7 3 too high 11 NS Cloner – Site Cloner and Multisite Duplicator 6K+ · 4.7★ (279) wp.org #12 ↑1 1 too low 12 Password Protected — Lock Entire Site, Pages, Posts, Categories, and Partial Content 300K+ · 4.4★ (141) wp.org #10 2 too high 13 User Profile Builder – Beautiful User Registration Forms, User Profiles & User Role Editor 40K+ · 4.7★ (736) wp.org #18 5 too low 14 Simply Static – The Static Site Generator 30K+ · 4.5★ (194) wp.org #15 ↓3 1 too low 15 BuddyPress 90K+ · 4.1★ (375) wp.org #19 4 too low 16 Jetpack – WP Security, Backup, Speed, & Growth 3M+ · 3.7★ (2407) wp.org #22 ↓1 6 too low 17 Search Analytics for WP – Site Search Tracking 3K+ · 5.0★ (30) wp.org #21 4 too low 18 Simple Site Map Page 6K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #11 7 too high 19 Staatic – Static Site Generator for WordPress 2K+ · 4.4★ (21) wp.org #24 ↓1 5 too low 20 Build Private Store For WooCommerce 200+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #16 4 too high 21 B BP Simple Private 500+ · 3.9★ (11) wp.org #17 4 too high 22 Kadence Central – Site Management, Backups, Security, and Reporting 30K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #20 ↑2 2 too high 23 Product Notes Tab & Private Admin Notes for WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #23 24 Private Website – Login Required 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 ↑1 10 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.