Simplify Admin Menus vs Hide Admin Bar

Head-to-head on the signals that matter, from the public WordPress.org data.

Simplify Admin Menus

by Adam Alexandersson

Health B84

Hide Admin Bar

by David Vongries

Health B71

Active-install trajectory

Simplify Admin MenusHide Admin Bar

Active installs, each indexed to 100 at the start of the window. A line above 100 is growing its install base, below 100 is shrinking.

Metric	Simplify Admin Menus	Hide Admin Bar
Active installs Modeled from the public "N+" band and recent downloads.	80–90	20K–30K ✓
Install trend Change in active installs across the charted window.	+700% ✓	0%
Overall health	B · 84 ✓	B · 71
Maintenance How recently the plugin was updated.	100/100 ✓	62/100
Rating quality Volume-adjusted review quality.	76/100	83/100 ✓
Support Share of forum threads marked resolved.	70/100	70/100
Rating (weighted for review count)	4.1★	4.3★ ✓
Reviews	2	30 ✓
Ranking optimization How well the listing is tuned to rank on wp.org.	75/100	82/100 ✓
Removal risk Maintenance signals that precede a wp.org closure. Not an official status.	Low	Low
Last updated	3mo ago ✓	12mo ago
Downloads · 30d	353	1.8K ✓
Install conversion Active installs over lifetime downloads. Downloads include every update, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower.	3.3% ✓	2.4%
Category	Admin & Utilities	Admin & Utilities

✓ marks the stronger plugin on each row. Rows where they're level show no marker.

Release activity

Simplify Admin MenusHide Admin Bar

7-day average daily downloads. Downloads spike for about a week after each release as the install base re-downloads, so read this as release cadence, not growth.