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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “visitor intelligence”

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 “visitor intelligence”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

Vulnerability Monitor for Wordfence Intelligence shows at wp.org #9 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Shield Security – Smart Bot Blocking, Brute-Force Login Protection & File Scanning places #8 on merit, 4.8★ from 1039 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 TWIPLA – Website Intelligence 800+ · 4.6★ (18) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Spam Protection | Maspik 30K+ · 4.7★ (87) wp.org #3 4 My Private Site – Make Your Whole Site Private, Force Login & Block Registration Spam 10K+ · 4.5★ (82) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too low 5 Popup Builder & Popup Maker for WordPress – OptinMonster Email Marketing and Lead Generation 1M+ · 4.3★ (821) wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too low 6 WP ULike – Like Buttons, Voting & Engagement Analytics 60K+ · 4.8★ (283) wp.org #8 ↓2 2 too low 7 Defender Security – Malware Scanner, Login Security & Firewall 80K+ · 4.8★ (334) wp.org #10 ↓2 3 too low 8 Shield Security – Smart Bot Blocking, Brute-Force Login Protection & File Scanning 30K+ · 4.8★ (1039) wp.org #18 10 too low 9 Advanced IP Blocker 3K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #7 ↑3 2 too high 10 Cookie Compliance for WordPress – Cookie Consent, GDPR & CCPA 800K+ · 4.8★ (3026) wp.org #19 ↓2 9 too low 11 AI 60K+ · 4.2★ (10) wp.org #4 7 too high 12 SEO Engine – Smart SEO with AI, Schema & Redirection for WordPress 1K+ · 4.9★ (48) wp.org #13 1 too low 13 Buttonizer – Social Media Share Buttons, Social Icons, & Social Feeds 40K+ · 4.8★ (396) wp.org #24 ↓3 11 too low 14 Buttonizer – Live Chat, AI Chatbot, Call, Chat, Contact Button 50K+ · 5.0★ (23) wp.org #14 ↓2 15 Buttonizer – Floating Menus, Sticky Buttons, & Popup Builder 70K+ · 4.5★ (151) wp.org #22 ↓2 7 too low 16 WP fail2ban – Advanced Security 60K+ · 4.2★ (71) wp.org #17 ↓1 1 too low 17 Search Insights – Privacy-Friendly Search Analytics 3K+ · 4.9★ (29) wp.org #23 ↓1 6 too low 18 VPN Guard – Block VPN, Proxy, Bots & Anonymous Visitors 200+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #15 ↓1 3 too high 19 Bread & Butter – Identify Website Visitors, Score Leads & Gate Content 70+ · 4.7★ (7) wp.org #16 ↓1 3 too high 20 Vulnerability Monitor for Wordfence Intelligence 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 ↓2 11 too high 21 AlmaWeb AI Visitor Analytics 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↓1 9 too high 22 Weblix Analytics – Real-Time Stats & Visitor Counter 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 ↓2 11 too high 23 Raptive Intelligence 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 2 too high 24 ShinyStat Analytics 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 ↓1 4 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.