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

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 up”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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.

Ranked above its merit

Wallet Up – Cash App, Venmo, PayPal, Zelle & QR Code Payments shows at wp.org #9 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 200+ 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.

Buried gem

UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin places #9 on merit, 4.8★ from 8706 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. 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 Asset CleanUp: Page Speed Booster 100K+ · 4.9★ (1564) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 Advanced Database Cleaner – Optimize & Clean Database to Speed Up Site Performance 100K+ · 4.9★ (1962) wp.org #5 ↓2 1 too low 5 Media Cleaner: Delete Unused Images & Clean Your Media Library 90K+ · 4.6★ (779) wp.org #4 ↓2 1 too high 6 Contact Form Clean and Simple 7K+ · 4.7★ (195) wp.org #7 ↑1 1 too low 7 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #10 3 too low 8 SSL Insecure Content Fixer 100K+ · 4.8★ (221) wp.org #8 ↑1 9 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #17 8 too low 10 WP-Sweep 100K+ · 4.7★ (138) wp.org #12 2 too low 11 Database Cleaner: Cleanup, Optimization & Repair 10K+ · 5.0★ (150) wp.org #15 4 too low 12 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #18 ↓5 6 too low 13 Media Library Tools – AI-Powered Rename, Clean & CSV Import/Export 2K+ · 4.7★ (14) wp.org #11 ↑5 2 too high 14 Hide Tooltips on Hover – Clean Up Title Attributes Without Losing Accessibility 4K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #14 ↓3 15 My Private Site – Make Your Whole Site Private, Force Login & Block Registration Spam 10K+ · 4.5★ (82) wp.org #24 9 too low 16 Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) wp.org #22 ↓7 6 too low 17 Speed Up – Clean WP 200+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #6 ↑1 11 too high 18 Clean unused shortcodes 300+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #13 ↓3 5 too high 19 A Autoload Checker 3K+ · 4.2★ (10) wp.org #23 ↓2 4 too low 20 Media Export & Clean 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #16 ↑6 4 too high 21 WP Counter Up – Animated Number Counter & Milestone Showcase 1K+ · 4.0★ (5) wp.org #19 ↓1 2 too high 22 Wallet Up – Cash App, Venmo, PayPal, Zelle & QR Code Payments 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 ↑5 13 too high 23 Editor Cleanup For Elementor: clean up and solve plugin conflicts with the Elementor editor 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #20 ↓1 3 too high 24 Templ Optimizer 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #21 ↓1 3 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.