wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “track bots”

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 “track bots”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

Bot Traffic Shield – Block Bad Bots and Stop AI Bots Crawlers shows at wp.org #6 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 900+ 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

Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense places #11 on merit, 4.9★ from 1463 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) wp.org #1 2

Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #2 3

All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #3 4

Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #5 ↑2 1 too low 5

Better Messages – Chat Rooms, Group Chat, Private Messages & AI Chat Bots 10K+ · 4.8★ (142) wp.org #4 1 too high 6

All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #8 2 too low 7

WP Statistics – Simple, privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative 500K+ · 4.1★ (758) wp.org #9 ↑2 2 too low 8

PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links 200K+ · 4.8★ (1322) wp.org #14 ↓1 6 too low 9

Defender Security – Malware Scanner, Login Security & Firewall 80K+ · 4.8★ (334) wp.org #15 ↑1 6 too low 10

Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869) wp.org #20 10 too low 11

Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense 90K+ · 4.9★ (1463) wp.org #23 12 too low 12

Masteriyo LMS – LMS Course Builder, Quizzes & Certificates 6K+ · 4.8★ (184) wp.org #17 ↑4 5 too low 13

hCaptcha for WP 70K+ · 4.6★ (88) wp.org #16 ↓2 3 too low 14

Advanced IP Blocker 3K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #11 ↑9 3 too high 15

Independent Analytics – WordPress Analytics Plugin 100K+ · 4.8★ (167) wp.org #22 7 too low 16

Back In Stock Notifier for WooCommerce | WooCommerce Waitlist Pro 20K+ · 4.7★ (122) wp.org #24 8 too low 17

WooPayments: Integrated WooCommerce Payments 800K+ · 3.4★ (177) wp.org #13 ↑6 4 too high 18

Known Agents – Track AI Bots and Crawlers, Block Scrapers, Analyze LLM Referral Traffic 1K+ · 4.8★ (6) thin reviews wp.org #7 ↑2 11 too high 19

Bot Traffic Shield – Block Bad Bots and Stop AI Bots Crawlers 900+ · 5.0★ (5) thin reviews wp.org #6 13 too high 20

CF7 Apps – Addons for Contact Form 7 (Honeypot, Database, Redirection, Webhook, etc.) 300K+ · 3.8★ (135) wp.org #18 2 too high 21

DevDome Analytics: Bot Traffic vs Human Traffic Website Statistics 300+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #12 ↑3 9 too high 22

ARCaptcha – Puzzle Captcha | New-generation Captcha and bot protection 300+ · 5.0★ (4) thin reviews wp.org #19 ↓2 3 too high 23

Track-A-Bot 100+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #10 ↑2 13 too high 24

CloudFilt Bot & Spam Protection 500+ · 4.5★ (4) thin reviews wp.org #21 ↓3 3 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.