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

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 provisioning”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 of the top 20. 4 plugins are pushed down for signals wp.org ignores: errors, a host-installed base, or removal risk.

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 it throws errors on current PHP, whether the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

User Sync shows at wp.org #2 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 200+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

FluentCommunity – Ultra-Fast High-Performance Social Network, Community, LMS & Online Courses places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 96 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WPO365 | SEAMLESS WORDPRESS + MICROSOFT INTEGRATION (WPO365 | LOGIN) 10K+ · 4.9★ (154) wp.org #4 ↓1 3 too low 2 SAML Single Sign On – SSO Login 10K+ · 4.9★ (402) wp.org #5 ↓1 3 too low 3 SCIM User Sync/Provisioning 200+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 OAuth Single Sign On – SSO (OAuth Client) 6K+ · 4.9★ (327) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 User Sync for Azure AD / Azure B2C 70+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #3 ↑2 3 too high 7 Index WP MySQL For Speed 50K+ · 4.8★ (99) wp.org #14 7 too low 8 Migrate to WordPress.com 2K+ · 4.7★ (9) wp.org #8 9 SureMail – SMTP and Email Logs Plugin with Amazon SES, Postmark, and Other Providers 200K+ · 4.7★ (25) wp.org #19 ↓2 10 too low 10 TimeSaverBot – Multilingual AI Chatbot for WooCommerce & Live Chat 100+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #18 ↓2 8 too low 11 FluentCommunity – Ultra-Fast High-Performance Social Network, Community, LMS & Online Courses 8K+ · 4.8★ (96) wp.org #22 ↓1 11 too low 12 Ultimate Multisite – WordPress Multisite SaaS & WaaS Platform 90+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #10 2 too high 13 O OneLogin SAML SSO 7K+ · 4.4★ (14) wp.org #15 2 too low 14 All-in-One Microsoft 365 & Entra ID / Azure AD SSO Login 600+ · 3.9★ (7) wp.org #9 5 too high 15 WP SAML Auth 7K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #17 ↓2 2 too low 16 User Sync 200+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #2 14 too high 17 FlyWP Helper – Page Cache, Page Optimization, Emails for FlyWP Server Control Panel 4K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #11 6 too high 18 Realtyna Provisioning 200+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 6 too high 19 AH JWT Auth 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↑4 3 too high 20 Frontend Gatekeeper 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 7 too high 21 SSO JumpCloud – Enterprise SAML & SCIM — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↓1 2 too low 22 SSO for Microsoft Entra 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 Advanced Passkeys for Secure Login 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 ↓1 3 too high 24 Rankology SEO and Analytics Tool 300+ · 0.0★ (0) 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.