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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “secure admin”

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 “secure admin”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 3 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

SiteGuard WP Plugin shows at wp.org #5 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 500K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 15 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 8864 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 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (424) wp.org #1 2 Secure Custom Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (66) wp.org #2 3 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5018) wp.org #6 3 too low 4 Secure Copy Content Protection and Content Locking 20K+ · 4.3★ (62) wp.org #4 ↑1 5 Secure Passkeys 2K+ · 4.8★ (19) wp.org #3 2 too high 6 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4825) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 Admin Custom Login 20K+ · 4.6★ (388) wp.org #12 ↓1 5 too low 8 View Admin As 9K+ · 4.9★ (49) wp.org #9 ↓1 1 too low 9 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1717) wp.org #17 ↓3 8 too low 10 Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8864) wp.org #23 ↓7 13 too low 11 Controlled Admin Access 10K+ · 4.8★ (45) wp.org #13 ↓1 2 too low 12 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Google Sheets Sync, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (50) wp.org #10 2 too high 13 Limit Login Attempts Security – Login Security, 2FA, Firewall, Brute Force Prevention 1M+ · 4.8★ (1483) wp.org #24 ↓3 11 too low 14 Protect WP Admin 10K+ · 3.6★ (50) wp.org #11 ↓2 3 too high 15 Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4939) wp.org #19 4 too low 16 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7314) wp.org #22 6 too low 17 Frontend Admin by DynamiApps 8K+ · 4.5★ (159) wp.org #16 ↑1 1 too high 18 Secure MCP Server for Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and other AI providers 5K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #8 ↑5 10 too high 19 All In One Login — Login Page Security and Customization for WordPress with Google reCAPTCHA, Social Login, Temporary Login, 2FA, and more. 60K+ · 3.6★ (35) wp.org #14 ↑5 5 too high 20 SiteGuard WP Plugin 500K+ · 4.3★ (15) wp.org #5 ↓1 15 too high 21 Church Admin 900+ · 4.7★ (17) wp.org #20 ↑3 1 too high 22 Royal MCP – Secure AI Connector for Claude, ChatGPT & any LLM via MCP 10K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #15 7 too high 23 Admin login URL Change 2K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #18 5 too high 24 Admin Robots.txt Editor 600+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #21 ↓1 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.