wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “user creation”

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 “user creation”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 4 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

User Posts Limit shows at wp.org #12 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 3K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 13 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 2144 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 signals wp.org

Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5040) wp.org #1 2

User Registration & Membership – Free & Paid Memberships, Subscriptions, Content Restriction, User Profile, Custom User Registration & Login Builder 50K+ · 4.8★ (832) wp.org #2 3

Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #3 4

User Frontend – Membership, User Registration, User Profile, User Directory & Content Restriction with Frontend Post Submission 20K+ · 4.1★ (537) wp.org #4 5

Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #7 2 too low 6

New User Approve 20K+ · 4.3★ (131) wp.org #6 1 too high 8

Import and export users and customers 70K+ · 4.7★ (259) wp.org #9 1 too low 9

User Access Manager 10K+ · 4.4★ (112) wp.org #8 1 too high 10

Open User Map – Interactive Leaflet Maps 10K+ · 5.0★ (70) wp.org #10 11

ProfileGrid – User Profiles, Groups and Communities 5K+ · 4.6★ (236) wp.org #13 2 too low 12

Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #19 7 too low 13

Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #14 1 too low 14

ProfilePress – Paid Membership, Online Courses (LMS), Ecommerce, User Registration & Login Form, User Profile & Restrict Content 100K+ · 3.1★ (938) wp.org #11 3 too high 15

Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (808) wp.org #17 2 too low 16

UsersWP – Front-end login form, User Registration, User Profile & Members Directory plugin for WP 20K+ · 4.7★ (183) wp.org #16 17

Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869) wp.org #24 7 too low 18

Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) wp.org #20 2 too low 19

bbPress 100K+ · 3.9★ (343) wp.org #18 1 too high 20

Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) wp.org #21 1 too low 21

User Login History 10K+ · 4.6★ (29) wp.org #15 6 too high 22

User Posts Limit 3K+ · 5.0★ (13) thin reviews wp.org #12 10 too high 23

GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #22 1 too high 24

User Role by BestWebSoft – Add and Customize Roles and Capabilities in WordPress 3K+ · 3.6★ (12) thin reviews wp.org #23 1 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.