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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “roles”

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 “roles”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

Premmerce User Roles shows at wp.org #9 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 600+ 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

Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 7519 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 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #1 2 Nav Menu Roles 70K+ · 4.9★ (219) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 User Role Editor 700K+ · 4.5★ (288) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 User Profile Builder – Beautiful User Registration Forms, User Profiles & User Role Editor 40K+ · 4.7★ (738) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too low 5 Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #11 ↓1 6 too low 6 M Multiple Roles 5K+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #4 2 too high 7 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #13 ↓1 6 too low 8 PublishPress Capabilities: User Role Access Control, Admin Area Permissions 90K+ · 4.7★ (143) wp.org #10 ↓5 2 too low 9 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #17 ↓4 8 too low 10 Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418) wp.org #19 ↓1 9 too low 11 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #23 ↓2 12 too low 12 Hide Admin Bar Based on User Roles – Disable the WordPress Toolbar by Role or Capability 20K+ · 3.9★ (20) wp.org #6 ↑1 6 too high 13 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #22 ↓6 9 too low 14 WPFront User Role Editor 30K+ · 4.5★ (65) wp.org #16 ↓1 2 too low 15 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #20 ↓3 5 too low 16 Roles & Capabilities 1K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #14 ↓3 2 too high 17 Menu By User Roles 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #8 ↑15 9 too high 18 Payment Gateways by User Roles for WooCommerce 2K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #12 ↓3 6 too high 19 HM Multiple Roles 1K+ · 3.6★ (5) wp.org #7 12 too high 20 Product Visibility by User Role for WooCommerce 6K+ · 3.8★ (21) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 User Role by BestWebSoft – Add and Customize Roles and Capabilities in WordPress 3K+ · 3.6★ (12) wp.org #18 ↑1 3 too high 22 Premmerce User Roles 600+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #9 ↓1 13 too high 23 Product Prices by User Roles for WooCommerce 1K+ · 3.4★ (14) wp.org #21 ↓1 2 too high 24 Custom Access Roles 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 ↓1 9 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.