wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “user detail”
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 detail”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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
WP User Avatars shows at wp.org #15 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 20K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.5★ average from 29 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
Export and Import Users and Customers places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 442 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
How this rank is calculated
Each plugin's merit score multiplies these inputs together: how recently it was updated, how current its "tested up to" WordPress version is, its install base (log scale, capped at 10 million), its support thread resolution rate, and a rating score. The rating score weights the star average by review volume against a sitewide prior, then scales it by the lower bound of the share of 4 and 5 star reviews. A plugin with 3.7 stars from tens of thousands of reviews can still outscore a 4.9 with a few dozen, because the small sample carries less certainty.
A health factor between 0.4 and 1.15 then adjusts that score for what wp.org's search can't see: PHP fatals or failed activations on a test install, PHP and WordPress compatibility, memory and page-speed footprint, suspicious review patterns, closure risk, and a large install base with very few reviews. Clean, adopted plugins earn a small lift.
A keyword ranking starts from wp.org's search order for the term, weighting each position by 1 divided by its place, then applies the merit correction and health factor above. Relevance to the keyword stays in the result, so the order can differ from the all-categories list on /best, which scores plugins with no search term.
Hover a row to see the main reason for its position.
User Profile Builder – Beautiful User Registration Forms, User Profiles & User Role Editor 40K+ · 4.7★ (738)
wp.org #1 2 
User Menus – Nav Menu Visibility 80K+ · 5.0★ (1281)
wp.org #2 3 
User Registration & Membership – Free & Paid Memberships, Subscriptions, Content Restriction, User Profile, Custom User Registration & Login Builder 50K+ · 4.8★ (832)
wp.org #3 ↑1 4 
Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445)
wp.org #4 ↓1 5 
Stop User Enumeration 60K+ · 4.9★ (132)
wp.org #5 6 
WP User Manager – Registration Form, Login Form, User Profile Builder & Member Directory 10K+ · 4.7★ (350)
wp.org #8 ↓2 2 too low 7 
User Frontend – Membership, User Registration, User Profile, User Directory & Content Restriction with Frontend Post Submission 20K+ · 4.1★ (537)
wp.org #7 ↑5 8 
User Submitted Posts – Enable Users to Submit Posts from the Front End 10K+ · 4.8★ (913)
wp.org #11 ↑3 3 too low 9 
Login as User: See the Site as Any User 30K+ · 4.8★ (41)
wp.org #6 ↑3 3 too high 10 
New User Approve 20K+ · 4.3★ (131)
wp.org #10 ↓2 11 Export and Import Users and Customers 50K+ · 4.8★ (442)
wp.org #16 ↓1 5 too low 12 
Open User Map – Interactive Leaflet Maps 10K+ · 5.0★ (70)
wp.org #12 ↓1 13 
One User Avatar | User Profile Picture 100K+ · 4.7★ (41)
wp.org #9 ↓2 4 too high 14 
UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8710)
wp.org #24 10 too low 15 
ProfileGrid – User Profiles, Groups and Communities 5K+ · 4.6★ (236)
wp.org #17 2 too low 16 
ProfilePress – Paid Membership, Online Courses (LMS), Ecommerce, User Registration & Login Form, User Profile & Restrict Content 100K+ · 3.1★ (938)
wp.org #14 ↓4 2 too high 17 
UsersWP – Front-end login form, User Registration, User Profile & Members Directory plugin for WP 20K+ · 4.7★ (183)
wp.org #20 3 too low 18 
Activity Log – Monitor User and Agent Changes 200K+ · 4.3★ (74)
wp.org #13 ↑3 5 too high 19 
Site Kit by Google – Analytics, Search Console, AdSense, Speed 5M+ · 4.2★ (1013)
wp.org #18 ↑1 1 too high 20 
PublishPress Capabilities: User Role Access Control, Admin Area Permissions 90K+ · 4.7★ (143)
wp.org #22 2 too low 21 WP User Avatars 20K+ · 4.5★ (29)
wp.org #15 ↓2 6 too high 22 
User Login History 10K+ · 4.6★ (29)
wp.org #19 ↓1 3 too high 23 
User IP and Location 3K+ · 4.2★ (9) thin reviews
wp.org #21 2 too high 24 
WP User Merger 300+ · 5.0★ (6) thin reviews
wp.org #23 1 too high Merit ranking caps the install boost at 10M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted 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.