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

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 passwords”, 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

SiteGuard WP Plugin shows at wp.org #8 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 600K+ 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

Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) places #9 on merit, 5.0★ from 423 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 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) wp.org #1 2 Kadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection 700K+ · 4.6★ (3992) wp.org #4 ↓1 2 too low 3 Secure Custom Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (69) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Password Protected 300K+ · 4.4★ (142) wp.org #3 ↑4 1 too high 5 Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869) wp.org #9 ↑2 4 too low 6 PPWP – Password Protect Pages 30K+ · 4.7★ (271) wp.org #11 ↓1 5 too low 7 Secure Copy Content Protection and Content Locking 20K+ · 4.3★ (62) wp.org #7 ↓2 8 Secure Passkeys 2K+ · 4.8★ (19) wp.org #5 ↓1 3 too high 9 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #16 7 too low 10 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #15 ↑2 5 too low 11 Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4940) wp.org #13 2 too low 12 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #17 ↑1 5 too low 13 Limit Login Attempts Security – Login Security, 2FA, Firewall, Brute Force Prevention 1M+ · 4.8★ (1488) wp.org #20 7 too low 14 Secure MCP Server for Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and other AI Agents 8K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #6 8 too high 15 Passster – Password Protect Pages and Content 10K+ · 4.2★ (60) wp.org #10 ↓2 5 too high 16 Password Policy Manager 6K+ · 4.4★ (14) wp.org #12 4 too high 17 Magic Login – Magic Link & Passwordless Authentication for WordPress – Login Without Password 3K+ · 4.8★ (26) wp.org #23 6 too low 18 Filr – Secure document library 700+ · 4.6★ (18) wp.org #19 1 too low 19 All In One Login 60K+ · 3.6★ (35) wp.org #24 5 too low 20 Royal MCP – Secure AI Connector for Claude, ChatGPT & any LLM via MCP 10K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #18 ↓3 2 too high 21 MASS Users Password Reset 600+ · 4.0★ (14) wp.org #14 7 too high 22 SiteGuard WP Plugin 600K+ · 4.3★ (15) wp.org #8 ↑1 14 too high 23 Secure Encrypted Form 50+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #21 2 too high 24 Simple Password Protect 500+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 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.