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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “virtual patching”

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 “virtual patching”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 2 of the top 15. 2 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Kadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection 700K+ · 4.6★ (3990) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Patchstack – WordPress & Plugins Security 60K+ · 4.9★ (61) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Virusdie | One-click website security 2K+ · 4.0★ (9) wp.org #3 4 Banana Defender – GDPR-Compliant Firewall, Scanner & Virtual Patching for WordPress — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #4 5 RankShield — Ranking & Ad-Spend Attack Protection 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #5 ↑2 6 Nova Scan Lite – Malware Scanner, Backdoor & File Integrity — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #6 ↓1 7 EU AI Act Ready 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #7 ↓1 8 Owl Security 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 9 MoeSec Security – Comprehensive Malware Scanner & Security Suite 40+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #13 ↓1 4 too low 10 Locktura Security 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 1 too high 11 AEOmatic — AEO, AI SEO, llms.txt & Schema — · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 ↓1 4 too low 12 BrunLabs Sentinel AI — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 2 too high 13 Kortech Shieldora — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 ↓1 2 too high 14 Gigneo – WordPress Freelance Service & Job Marketplace 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↓1 2 too high 15 Bread 300+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↓1 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.