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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “protect website”

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 “protect website”, 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

AI Scrape Protect shows at wp.org #6 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 400+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.7★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 4699 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #1 2 Jetpack Protect 100K+ · 4.6★ (123) wp.org #2 3 PPWP – Password Protect Pages 30K+ · 4.7★ (271) wp.org #3 4 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5038) wp.org #4 5 Email Encoder – Protect Email Addresses and Phone Numbers 90K+ · 4.9★ (94) wp.org #5 ↑1 6 Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869) wp.org #9 ↑3 3 too low 7 Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #7 ↑2 8 Limit Login Attempts Security – Login Security, 2FA, Firewall, Brute Force Prevention 1M+ · 4.8★ (1488) wp.org #12 ↑2 4 too low 9 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #13 ↓5 4 too low 10 Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4699) wp.org #20 10 too low 11 Prevent Direct Access – Protect WordPress Files 10K+ · 4.6★ (297) wp.org #15 ↑1 4 too low 12 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #11 ↑2 1 too high 13 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #22 ↑1 9 too low 14 Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #24 ↓2 10 too low 15 Security Optimizer – The All-In-One Protection Plugin 1M+ · 4.5★ (157) wp.org #14 ↑1 1 too high 16 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #18 ↓13 2 too low 17 Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4940) wp.org #19 ↓1 2 too low 18 Passster – Password Protect Pages and Content 10K+ · 4.2★ (60) wp.org #8 ↓1 10 too high 19 AI Scrape Protect 400+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #6 ↑4 13 too high 20 WP Content Copy Protection with Color Design 5K+ · 4.5★ (25) wp.org #21 ↓1 1 too low 21 CopyProof Website 300+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #17 ↑2 4 too high 22 Simple Password Protect 500+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 ↑1 12 too high 23 PDF Password Protect 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 ↑1 7 too high 24 Private Website – Login Required 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 ↓2 1 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.