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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “xmlrpc”

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 “xmlrpc”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 of the top 20. 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.

X

Ranked above its merit

XMLRPC Lockdown by AO Digital shows at wp.org #12 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 50+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Anti-Malware Security and Brute-Force Firewall 100K+ · 4.9★ (783) wp.org #3 2 too low 2 D Disable XML-RPC 200K+ · 4.1★ (34) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 WPS Limit Login 100K+ · 4.9★ (83) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Google Authenticator 20K+ · 4.3★ (135) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Disable XML-RPC-API 100K+ · 4.2★ (43) wp.org #5 6 XPoster – Share to Bluesky and Mastodon 10K+ · 3.8★ (69) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 Remove XML-RPC Methods 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #2 5 too high 8 VigIA – AI Visibility, Analytics & Control 2K+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #14 6 too low 9 HTTP Requests Manager 1K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #9 ↑1 10 DoLogin Security 7K+ · 4.5★ (13) wp.org #10 ↓1 11 Security Safe 600+ · 5.0★ (13) wp.org #13 ↓1 2 too low 12 Stop XML-RPC Attacks 6K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #7 5 too high 13 Simple Disable XML-RPC 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #11 ↑7 2 too high 14 WP Login Door 400+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #21 7 too low 15 BotBlocker Security – Complete security platform 3K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #19 ↓2 4 too low 16 AntiSpam for Contact Form 7 10K+ · 4.2★ (13) wp.org #18 ↑2 2 too low 17 Login Delay Shield 70+ · 4.4★ (5) wp.org #17 ↓1 18 Syndication 90+ · 4.3★ (4) wp.org #16 ↓1 2 too high 19 Fail2WP 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 ↓2 4 too high 20 Captcha Spam Blocker 80+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #23 3 too low 21 X XMLRPC Lockdown by AO Digital 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 ↓1 9 too high 22 Admin Country Allowlist 80+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 23 Tweakr – Advanced options toolkit 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 S Skyword XMLRPC publishing 40+ · 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.