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

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 “securing”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

RSFirewall! shows at wp.org #5 but places #12 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 4K+ 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

SSL Zen — SSL Certificate Installer & HTTPS Redirects places #5 on merit, 4.9★ from 665 reviews, but shows at wp.org #10. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Limit Login Attempts Security – Login Security, 2FA, Firewall, Brute Force Prevention 1M+ · 4.8★ (1489) wp.org #1 2 Kadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection 700K+ · 4.6★ (3992) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Backuply – Backup, Restore, Migrate and Clone 600K+ · 4.5★ (135) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 WP-DBManager 50K+ · 4.4★ (95) wp.org #6 ↓1 2 too low 5 SSL Zen — SSL Certificate Installer & HTTPS Redirects 9K+ · 4.9★ (665) wp.org #10 5 too low 6 Access Governance for WordPress (aka AAM) 100K+ · 4.2★ (420) wp.org #8 ↑1 2 too low 7 All In One Login 60K+ · 3.6★ (35) wp.org #4 ↑15 3 too high 8 Titan Anti-spam & Security – Brute Force Protection, 2FA & Spam Filter 50K+ · 4.5★ (370) wp.org #13 5 too low 9 Advanced IP Blocker 3K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #7 ↑5 2 too high 10 Password Protected 300K+ · 4.4★ (142) wp.org #14 ↑1 4 too low 11 WP Time Slots Booking Form 1K+ · 5.0★ (41) wp.org #12 ↓1 1 too low 12 RSFirewall! 4K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #5 ↓1 7 too high 13 Deposits & Partial Payments for WooCommerce – Bayna 1K+ · 5.0★ (49) wp.org #18 ↑2 5 too low 14 WebTotem Security 700+ · 4.2★ (13) wp.org #9 ↓1 5 too high 15 Payment Page – Stripe Payment Forms for Donations, Subscriptions & Recurring Payments 200+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #22 ↑1 7 too low 16 Injection Guard 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #11 ↓4 5 too high 17 Password Policy Manager 6K+ · 4.4★ (14) wp.org #16 ↑1 1 too high 18 WPC Badge Management for WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #15 ↓1 3 too high 19 Zoho Forms – Drag & Drop Form Builder for Websites – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Order Forms & More 10K+ · 2.7★ (14) wp.org #20 ↑2 1 too low 20 Password Protected Site and Store 90+ · 4.0★ (3) wp.org #17 ↓1 3 too high 21 eDarpan: Website Protection 200+ · 3.8★ (5) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 Admin Notify 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 ↓1 3 too high 23 SR Partial Payments for WooCommerce 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 2 too high 24 OrderPulse: Auto Refresh Orders for WooCommerce 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 1 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.