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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “role 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 “role restriction”, we agree with wp.org 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

WP User Profile Restriction shows at wp.org #9 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 500+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Content Control – The Ultimate Content Restriction Solution! Restrict Content, Create Conditional Blocks & More places #12 on merit, 4.9★ from 575 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 User Role Editor 700K+ · 4.5★ (288) wp.org #1 2 Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #2 3 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #3 4 User Profile Builder – Beautiful User Registration Forms, User Profiles & User Role Editor 40K+ · 4.7★ (738) wp.org #4 5 Max Mega Menu 300K+ · 4.8★ (882) wp.org #8 ↑3 3 too low 6 WPFront User Role Editor 30K+ · 4.5★ (65) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 User Registration & Membership – Free & Paid Memberships, Subscriptions, Content Restriction, User Profile, Custom User Registration & Login Builder 50K+ · 4.8★ (832) wp.org #10 ↓1 3 too low 8 Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869) wp.org #13 ↑1 5 too low 9 Login IP & Country Restriction 8K+ · 4.6★ (52) wp.org #6 3 too high 10 PublishPress Capabilities: User Role Access Control, Admin Area Permissions 90K+ · 4.7★ (143) wp.org #11 ↓1 1 too low 11 SVG Support 1M+ · 4.8★ (356) wp.org #12 1 too low 12 Content Control – The Ultimate Content Restriction Solution! Restrict Content, Create Conditional Blocks & More 40K+ · 4.9★ (575) wp.org #19 ↓1 7 too low 13 EasyMedia – Increase Media Upload File Size | Role-Based Upload Limit | Increase Execution Time 70K+ · 4.9★ (99) wp.org #14 ↓1 1 too low 14 Page and Post Restriction 1K+ · 4.3★ (16) wp.org #7 7 too high 15 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #16 1 too low 16 User Frontend – Membership, User Registration, User Profile, User Directory & Content Restriction with Frontend Post Submission 20K+ · 4.1★ (537) wp.org #17 ↑7 1 too low 17 WP User Profile Restriction 500+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #9 ↓1 8 too high 18 s2Member – Excellent for All Kinds of Memberships, Content Restriction Paywalls & Member Access Subscriptions 8K+ · 4.1★ (234) wp.org #24 ↓1 6 too low 19 Simple Client Dashboard 2K+ · 4.5★ (26) wp.org #23 ↓1 4 too low 20 Membership & User Roles for WooCommerce (Automatic Role Changer) 400+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #15 5 too high 21 Restrictions for BuddyPress 300+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #21 22 Hide Category by User Role for WooCommerce 300+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #20 ↓1 2 too high 23 Role Based Content Restrictor 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #22 ↓2 1 too high 24 SureMembers – Membership & Content Restriction Plugin 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #18 ↓1 6 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.