Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “subnet”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

IP & Country Blocker Lite shows at wp.org #7 but places #13 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 300+ 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

Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal places #3 on merit, 4.8★ from 397 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 LukasApps CAPTCHA tools for Contact Form 7 100K+ · 4.1★ (48) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 BotBlocker Security – Complete security platform 3K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (397) wp.org #24 21 too low 4 Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #23 ↑1 19 too low 5 Statify Filter 2K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #1 4 too high 6 Login Armor 500+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #6 7 SecureFusion – Security and Firewall by Fyndsoft 10+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #5 2 too high 8 Activity Guard – Security Scanner, Activity Log with IP blocking 10+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #16 ↓7 8 too low 9 Secure Owl Firewall 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #4 5 too high 10 Adriano GEO Context and Crawl Monitor 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 ↑3 2 too high 11 Obzervi Logs — · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #14 3 too low 12 E Ethwebs Role Auditor — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 ↓1 3 too high 13 IP & Country Blocker Lite 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 6 too high 14 TSI Visitor Blocker 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 4 too high 15 Visitor Sentinel — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 ↓1 4 too high 16 Liveupx Security 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 4 too high 17 OrioleOne Master Tools — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 2 too high 18 CyberPulse — Advanced Security & Bot Protection 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 5 too high 19 L LungoTech IP Guard — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 2 too high 20 Hakan Hediye Çarkı — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 2 too high 21 T TrapFlux Request Firewall — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↑1 2 too high 22 Vardalion Security — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↑1 2 too high 23 GatePass – Password Protect Pages, Posts, Entire Site & WooCommerce for WordPress 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↑1 2 too high 24 Watrix Bot Guard — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 ↑1 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.