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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “rest api restriction”

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 “rest api restriction”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 4 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

REST API Guard shows at wp.org #3 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 200+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 3221 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #1 2 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #2 3 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #7 4 too low 4 User Registration & Membership – Free & Paid Memberships, Subscriptions, Content Restriction, User Profile, Custom User Registration & Login Builder 50K+ · 4.8★ (832) wp.org #9 ↓1 5 too low 5 Simple Page Access Restriction 6K+ · 4.9★ (32) wp.org #5 6 All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #11 ↑5 5 too low 7 Content Control – The Ultimate Content Restriction Solution! Restrict Content, Create Conditional Blocks & More 40K+ · 4.9★ (575) wp.org #15 ↓1 8 too low 8 SVG Support 1M+ · 4.8★ (356) wp.org #10 ↑3 2 too low 9 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #19 10 too low 10 Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869) wp.org #21 11 too low 11 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #23 12 too low 12 Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 3K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #8 ↑1 4 too high 13 Page and Post Restriction 1K+ · 4.3★ (16) wp.org #6 ↓2 7 too high 14 WP User Profile Restriction 500+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #4 ↓1 10 too high 15 User Frontend – Membership, User Registration, User Profile, User Directory & Content Restriction with Frontend Post Submission 20K+ · 4.1★ (537) wp.org #13 ↑7 2 too high 16 Advanced Shipment Tracking for WooCommerce 70K+ · 4.5★ (355) wp.org #16 ↓5 17 Simple JWT Login – Allows you to use JWT on REST endpoints. 4K+ · 5.0★ (47) wp.org #18 ↓1 1 too low 18 s2Member – Excellent for All Kinds of Memberships, Content Restriction Paywalls & Member Access Subscriptions 8K+ · 4.1★ (234) wp.org #17 ↑1 1 too high 19 REST API Guard 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #3 ↑3 16 too high 20 Restrict – membership, site, content and user access restrictions for WordPress 2K+ · 4.2★ (25) wp.org #24 ↓1 4 too low 21 Headless REST API Security 50+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #14 ↓4 7 too high 22 SureMembers – Membership & Content Restriction Plugin 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #12 10 too high 23 WPEM – REST API 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↓5 3 too high 24 Turn Off REST API 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 ↓1 2 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.