wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “protected posts”

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 “protected posts”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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 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

Customize Private & Protected: Password Form & Prefix shows at wp.org #5 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 15 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

WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More places #8 on merit, 4.8★ from 14387 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Password Protected 300K+ · 4.4★ (142) wp.org #1 2

List category posts 80K+ · 4.7★ (254) wp.org #3 4

Simple Custom Post Order 300K+ · 4.8★ (588) wp.org #4 ↑3 5

Folders – Unlimited Folders to Organize Media Library Folder, Pages, Posts, File Manager 90K+ · 5.0★ (1526) wp.org #10 ↑1 5 too low 6

Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528) wp.org #11 ↓1 4 too low 8

WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #24 ↓3 16 too low 9

Hide Posts 20K+ · 4.7★ (22) thin reviews wp.org #8 1 too high 10

Post Duplicator 200K+ · 4.8★ (80) wp.org #13 3 too low 11

WebberZone Top 10 — Popular Posts 10K+ · 4.6★ (102) wp.org #15 ↓1 4 too low 12

Protected Video 1K+ · 4.7★ (15) thin reviews wp.org #7 ↓1 5 too high 13

Post Grid 30K+ · 4.3★ (163) wp.org #16 ↓1 3 too low 14

Simple Membership 40K+ · 4.6★ (475) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #14 ↑2 15

PPWP – Password Protect Pages 30K+ · 4.7★ (271) wp.org #21 ↓3 6 too low 16

Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) not PHP-currentheavy footprint wp.org #22 ↓2 6 too low 17

Smart Post – Post Grid, Post Carousel, Post Slider Gutenberg Blocks for Blog & News 20K+ · 4.7★ (210) heavy footprint wp.org #23 ↓4 6 too low 18

hCaptcha for WP 70K+ · 4.6★ (88) wp.org #20 2 too low 19

CCI Posts Carousel All In One 2K+ · 4.6★ (27) wp.org #18 1 too high 20

Customize Private & Protected: Password Form & Prefix 400+ · 4.7★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #5 ↓1 15 too high 21

WPEPP – Essential Security, Password Protect & Login Page Customizer 3K+ · 4.1★ (19) thin reviews wp.org #12 9 too high 22

Post Lockdown 1K+ · 4.6★ (9) thin reviews wp.org #17 5 too high 23

Duplicate Post – duplicate pages, copy content, clone posts 5K+ · 4.7★ (7) thin reviews wp.org #19 4 too high 24 H Hidden Password Protected Pages 600+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #9 15 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.