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

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 “clean”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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 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

Media Export & Clean shows at wp.org #10 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 200+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 8706 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #1 2 Clean Login 5K+ · 4.7★ (144) wp.org #2 ↑4 3 Media Cleaner: Delete Unused Images & Clean Your Media Library 90K+ · 4.6★ (778) wp.org #3 4 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #4 ↑1 5 Advanced Database Cleaner – Optimize & Clean Database to Speed Up Site Performance 100K+ · 4.9★ (1962) wp.org #5 ↓1 6 Contact Form Clean and Simple 7K+ · 4.7★ (195) wp.org #6 ↑1 7 Asset CleanUp: Page Speed Booster 100K+ · 4.9★ (1564) wp.org #9 2 too low 8 Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – Easy Social Feeds Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4358) wp.org #11 3 too low 9 Database Cleaner: Cleanup, Optimization & Repair 10K+ · 5.0★ (150) wp.org #14 ↑1 5 too low 10 WP Bulk Delete 90K+ · 4.6★ (131) wp.org #12 ↑5 2 too low 11 Clean Image Filenames 30K+ · 4.6★ (21) wp.org #7 ↑1 4 too high 12 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #21 9 too low 13 MalCare WordPress Security Plugin – Malware Scanner, Cleaner, Security Firewall 100K+ · 4.4★ (559) wp.org #17 ↑2 4 too low 14 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #19 5 too low 15 WPS Cleaner 10K+ · 4.3★ (99) wp.org #24 9 too low 16 FastPixel Cache – Optimize Page Speed: Compress Images, Minify, Clean Database & CDN 4K+ · 4.8★ (50) wp.org #20 4 too low 17 LWS Cleaner 20K+ · 4.8★ (16) wp.org #16 1 too high 18 Clean unused shortcodes 300+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #8 ↑2 10 too high 19 Media Library Tools – AI-Powered Rename, Clean & CSV Import/Export 2K+ · 4.7★ (14) wp.org #15 ↑3 4 too high 20 Hide Tooltips on Hover – Clean Up Title Attributes Without Losing Accessibility 4K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #23 3 too low 21 Media Export & Clean 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #10 ↑3 11 too high 22 W wp_head() cleaner 2K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #22 ↑1 23 Speed Up – Clean WP 200+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #13 ↑1 10 too high 24 Clean WP Admin Theme – Simple design 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #18 ↓6 6 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.