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

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 “spoof”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 17 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

ZeroBot Security – Login Protection, Firewall & Bot Blocker shows at wp.org #5 but places #12 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its — 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

iControlWP places #6 on merit, 4.8★ from 63 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 3K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #1 2 BotBlocker Security – Complete security platform 3K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #2 3 WP Engine GeoTarget 300+ · 3.6★ (15) wp.org #3 4 Dokan: AI Powered WooCommerce Multivendor Marketplace Solution – Build Your Own Amazon, eBay, Etsy 30K+ · 4.6★ (769) wp.org #14 10 too low 5 Login IP & Country Restriction 8K+ · 4.6★ (52) wp.org #13 ↓2 8 too low 6 iControlWP 900+ · 4.8★ (63) wp.org #20 ↓2 14 too low 7 R Real IP and Geo for Cloudflare 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #4 3 too high 8 Advanced IP Blocker 3K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #18 ↓1 10 too low 9 Atlant Security 700+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #21 ↓2 12 too low 10 Shibboleth 3K+ · 4.3★ (7) wp.org #19 ↓3 9 too low 11 OtterFixer AI Bot Tracker — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #6 ↑1 5 too high 12 ZeroBot Security – Login Protection, Firewall & Bot Blocker — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #5 ↑1 7 too high 13 Crypto Mailto Defender — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 6 too high 14 MieBadge — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 6 too high 15 WPS Protect: Login URL & Security Headers — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 6 too high 16 S ScraperGuard – AI Scraper Blocker — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 6 too high 17 AI Kansoku Lab Tracker — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 6 too high 18 Zen Login & Authentication — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 6 too high 19 Konfirmi Plugin 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #22 ↓2 3 too low 20 Index Harmony — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 ↓2 5 too high 21 T Torrent Scraper for Blogs and Forums — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↓2 5 too high 22 LeadConnector 20K+ · 2.3★ (11) wp.org #23 1 too low 23 Easy IP Blocker 400+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 ↓2 6 too high 24 Custom SMTP: Email Deliverability – FREE & Easy-to-use 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24

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.