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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “registered users”

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 “registered users”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

Never Moderate Registered Users shows at wp.org #9 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 20+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

User Registration & Membership – Free & Paid Memberships, Subscriptions, Content Restriction, User Profile, Custom User Registration & Login Builder places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 832 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 wp.org
1 Import and export users and customers 70K+ · 4.7★ (259) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 R Registered Users Only 2K+ · 4.6★ (13) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Activity Log – Monitor User and Agent Changes 200K+ · 4.3★ (74) wp.org #6 ↑4 2 too low 5 WP User Avatars 20K+ · 4.5★ (29) wp.org #5 6 Open User Map – Interactive Leaflet Maps 10K+ · 5.0★ (70) wp.org #11 5 too low 7 Users Registration Date – Sortable Users Column 3K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #3 4 too high 8 Send Users Email – Email Subscribers, Email Marketing Newsletter 5K+ · 4.5★ (28) wp.org #7 ↑1 1 too high 9 User Access Manager 10K+ · 4.4★ (112) wp.org #14 ↓1 5 too low 10 User Registration & Membership – Free & Paid Memberships, Subscriptions, Content Restriction, User Profile, Custom User Registration & Login Builder 50K+ · 4.8★ (832) wp.org #24 ↓4 14 too low 11 One User Avatar | User Profile Picture 100K+ · 4.7★ (41) wp.org #12 1 too low 12 WP Remote Users Sync 6K+ · 4.9★ (73) wp.org #10 2 too high 13 User Frontend – Membership, User Registration, User Profile, User Directory & Content Restriction with Frontend Post Submission 20K+ · 4.1★ (537) wp.org #13 14 LightStart – Maintenance Mode, Coming Soon and Landing Page Builder 400K+ · 4.3★ (874) wp.org #22 8 too low 15 Login as User: See the Site as Any User 30K+ · 4.8★ (41) wp.org #18 3 too low 16 Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205) wp.org #23 ↓1 7 too low 17 Index WP Users For Speed 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #8 ↓2 9 too high 18 MASS Users Password Reset 600+ · 4.0★ (14) wp.org #16 ↓2 2 too high 19 CBX User Online & Last Login 800+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #20 ↓3 1 too low 20 Export Users Data CSV 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #15 5 too high 21 Never Moderate Registered Users 20+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #9 12 too high 22 Mass Email To Users 800+ · 3.1★ (8) wp.org #21 ↓3 1 too high 23 GamiPress – Block Users 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #19 ↓3 4 too high 24 JSM Show Registered Shortcodes 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 ↓2 7 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.