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

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 login history”, 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

Disable User Login shows at wp.org #6 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 6K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 6 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 #8 on merit, 4.8★ from 2,147 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. 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.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5,043) wp.org #1 2

Simple History – Track, Log, and Audit WordPress Changes 300K+ · 4.9★ (492) wp.org #3 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 3

User Registration & Membership – Free & Paid Memberships, Subscriptions, Content Restriction, User Profile, Custom User Registration & Login Builder 50K+ · 4.8★ (832) wp.org #4 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 4

User Login History 10K+ · 4.6★ (29) wp.org #2 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 5

Temporary Login Without Password 90K+ · 5.0★ (1,550) wp.org #7 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 6

User Switching 200K+ · 4.9★ (238) wp.org #5 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 7

User Frontend – Membership, User Registration, User Profile, User Directory & Content Restriction with Frontend Post Submission 20K+ · 4.1★ (537) wp.org #8 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 8

Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2,147) wp.org #14 wp.org ranks it 6 places below merit 9

Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7,322) wp.org #13 wp.org ranks it 4 places below merit 10

ProfilePress – Paid Membership, Online Courses (LMS), Ecommerce, User Registration & Login Form, User Profile & Restrict Content 100K+ · 3.1★ (938) wp.org #9 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 11

Nextend Social Login and Register 200K+ · 4.9★ (447) wp.org #17 wp.org ranks it 6 places below merit 12

RegistrationMagic – Custom Registration Forms, User Registration, Payment, and User Login 7K+ · 4.5★ (459) wp.org #18 wp.org ranks it 6 places below merit 13

WP Activity Log 300K+ · 4.7★ (490) wp.org #19 wp.org ranks it 6 places below merit 14

When Last Login 40K+ · 4.7★ (37) wp.org #11 wp.org ranks it 3 places above merit 15

Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 4K+ · 5.0★ (24) thin reviews wp.org #12 wp.org ranks it 3 places above merit 16

ProfileGrid – User Profiles, Groups and Communities 5K+ · 4.6★ (236) wp.org #22 wp.org ranks it 6 places below merit 17

Disable User Login 6K+ · 5.0★ (6) thin reviews wp.org #6 wp.org ranks it 11 places above merit 18

WP Last Login 10K+ · 3.8★ (26) wp.org #10 wp.org ranks it 8 places above merit 19

Persistent Login 5K+ · 3.9★ (26) wp.org #16 wp.org ranks it 4 places above merit 21

CBX User Online & Last Login 700+ · 5.0★ (6) thin reviews wp.org #21 22

Admin login URL Change 2K+ · 5.0★ (4) thin reviews wp.org #24

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.