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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “solid wp security plugin”

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 “solid wp security plugin”, 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

Solid Performance – Your No-Code Caching, Performance, & Page Speed Solution shows at wp.org #5 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 4K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform places #4 on merit, 4.6★ from 708 reviews, but shows at wp.org #8. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Kadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection 700K+ · 4.6★ (3992) wp.org #1 2 Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 Hide My WP Ghost – Security & Firewall 100K+ · 4.5★ (373) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 100K+ · 4.6★ (708) wp.org #8 ↓2 4 too low 5 BBQ Firewall – Fast & Powerful Firewall Security 100K+ · 4.9★ (160) wp.org #9 ↓1 4 too low 6 CMP – Coming Soon & Maintenance Plugin by NiteoThemes 200K+ · 4.7★ (326) wp.org #10 ↓1 4 too low 7 Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 3K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too high 8 Solid Mail – SMTP email and logging made by SolidWP 60K+ · 4.2★ (52) wp.org #7 1 too high 9 Solid Post Likes 500+ · 4.8★ (9) wp.org #4 ↓1 5 too high 10 WP Social Ninja – Embed Social Feeds, User Reviews & Chat Widgets 30K+ · 4.8★ (71) wp.org #11 ↑5 1 too low 11 AWP Classifieds 3K+ · 4.6★ (301) wp.org #15 ↑7 4 too low 12 WP Dashboard Notes 20K+ · 4.6★ (110) wp.org #13 1 too low 13 Simple History – Track, Log, and Audit WordPress Changes 300K+ · 4.9★ (491) wp.org #19 ↓1 6 too low 14 SecuPress with Simple SSL – Simple and Performant Security 40K+ · 4.1★ (106) wp.org #14 ↓2 15 Email Template Designer – WP HTML Mail 20K+ · 4.8★ (87) wp.org #18 ↓7 3 too low 16 JWT Authentication for WP REST API 60K+ · 4.4★ (53) wp.org #22 ↓2 6 too low 17 WPEPP – Essential Security, Password Protect & Login Page Customizer 3K+ · 4.1★ (19) wp.org #12 ↓2 5 too high 18 Solid Testimonials – Testimonial Slider, Video Testimonials & Customer Reviews 1K+ · 4.3★ (35) wp.org #21 ↑2 3 too low 19 Royal MCP – Secure AI Connector for Claude, ChatGPT & any LLM via MCP 10K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #20 ↓5 1 too low 20 Solid Performance – Your No-Code Caching, Performance, & Page Speed Solution 4K+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #5 ↓1 15 too high 21 phpinfo() WP – Site Health, PHP Compatibility & Server Audit 3K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 Kadence Central – Site Management, Backups, Security, and Reporting 30K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #23 ↓6 1 too low 23 CMS ADMINS Security Check Report 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #17 ↑4 6 too high 24 Improve Website Security 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 ↓2 8 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.