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

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 “stop”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 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

Stop Media Comment Spamming shows at wp.org #9 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 800+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ average from 6 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 #6 on merit, 4.9★ from 8869 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Site Kit by Google – Analytics, Search Console, AdSense, Speed 5M+ · 4.2★ (1012) wp.org #1 2 Stop User Enumeration 60K+ · 4.9★ (132) wp.org #2 3 Stop Spammers Classic 20K+ · 4.4★ (243) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) wp.org #6 ↑1 2 too low 5 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #10 5 too low 6 Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869) wp.org #19 ↑1 13 too low 7 Disable Comments 1M+ · 4.7★ (281) wp.org #11 ↓8 4 too low 8 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #20 ↓2 12 too low 9 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #14 5 too low 10 Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #21 ↓2 11 too low 11 Stop WP Emails Going to Spam 10K+ · 4.8★ (51) wp.org #8 ↑1 3 too high 12 Stop Emails 5K+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #7 ↑1 5 too high 13 Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4342) wp.org #23 ↓2 10 too low 14 Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #18 ↓4 4 too low 15 Safe SVG 1M+ · 4.9★ (79) wp.org #13 2 too high 16 One Stop Shop for WooCommerce 10K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #4 ↑1 12 too high 17 Stop XML-RPC Attacks 6K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #5 ↑1 12 too high 18 Disable Emails 30K+ · 5.0★ (20) wp.org #22 ↑1 4 too low 19 La Sentinelle antispam 3K+ · 5.0★ (21) wp.org #24 5 too low 20 Checkout Shield for WooCommerce – Stop Fake Orders, Spam Bots & Card Testing 400+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #15 ↑2 5 too high 21 Bot Traffic Shield – Block Bad Bots and Stop AI Bots Crawlers 900+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #16 ↓1 5 too high 22 Stop Media Comment Spamming 800+ · 3.0★ (6) wp.org #9 ↑2 13 too high 23 Stop Search Spam 80+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #12 11 too high 24 MM Comment Manager — Disable Comment Box, Hide Existing Comments and Stop Spam 800+ · 3.4★ (5) wp.org #17 ↓1 7 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.