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

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 “secret”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 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

eRecht24 Legal Texts shows at wp.org #6 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 50K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode Page & Under Construction places #6 on merit, 4.8★ from 317 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #4 ↓1 2 too low 3 GravityExport Lite for Gravity Forms 10K+ · 5.0★ (39) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 hCaptcha for WP 70K+ · 4.6★ (88) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Activity Log – Monitor User and Agent Changes 200K+ · 4.3★ (74) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode Page & Under Construction 10K+ · 4.8★ (317) wp.org #16 ↓1 10 too low 7 Remove Dashboard Access 30K+ · 4.6★ (78) wp.org #11 ↓2 4 too low 8 Invisible reCaptcha 70K+ · 4.3★ (133) wp.org #12 ↑2 4 too low 9 reCAPTCHA for WooCommerce 40K+ · 4.6★ (76) wp.org #13 ↓2 4 too low 10 BF Secret File Downloader 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #1 9 too high 11 Back In Stock Notifier for WooCommerce | WooCommerce Waitlist Pro 20K+ · 4.7★ (122) wp.org #14 3 too low 12 WPO365 | MICROSOFT 365 GRAPH MAILER 10K+ · 5.0★ (40) wp.org #18 ↓2 6 too low 13 Payment Button for PayPal 4K+ · 4.5★ (40) wp.org #17 ↓7 4 too low 14 Atlant Security 700+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #10 ↑13 4 too high 15 Block wp-login 600+ · 4.7★ (9) wp.org #9 ↓1 6 too high 16 JWT Authentication for WP REST API 60K+ · 4.4★ (53) wp.org #23 ↓4 7 too low 17 DoLogin Security 7K+ · 4.5★ (13) wp.org #15 ↓2 2 too high 18 Really Simple Under Construction Page – Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode 1K+ · 4.8★ (9) wp.org #20 ↑1 2 too low 19 CF7 Invisible reCAPTCHA 6K+ · 3.1★ (14) wp.org #22 ↓2 3 too low 20 eRecht24 Legal Texts 50K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 14 too high 21 Secret Image Slide and Tune 80+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 14 too high 22 Interac e-Transfer / Email Money Transfer (EMT) Gateway for WooCommerce 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #24 ↓2 2 too low 23 M Minimal Maintenance Mode 900+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 ↓2 4 too high 24 RunThings Secrets 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↓3 3 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.