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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “comment message”

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 “comment message”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 3 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

Comment Blacklist Updater shows at wp.org #10 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 800+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.8★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin places #11 on merit, 4.4★ from 1445 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Disable Comments 1M+ · 4.7★ (281) wp.org #1 ↑2 2 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #5 ↑1 3 too low 3 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 Simple Comment Editing 2K+ · 4.8★ (55) wp.org #4 ↑1 5 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) wp.org #8 ↑1 3 too low 6 Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #7 ↑1 1 too low 7 Comment Link Remove and Other Comment Tools 8K+ · 4.1★ (15) wp.org #2 5 too high 8 Ajaxify Comments – Ajax and Lazy Loading Comments 3K+ · 4.8★ (91) wp.org #9 ↑2 1 too low 9 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #11 ↓1 2 too low 10 Disqus Comment System 30K+ · 2.7★ (219) wp.org #6 ↑1 4 too high 11 Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #19 ↓3 8 too low 12 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #20 ↑1 8 too low 13 Disable Comments & Delete All Comments 9K+ · 5.0★ (41) wp.org #12 ↑1 1 too high 14 WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346) wp.org #22 8 too low 15 Comments – GraphComment | AI-Moderated Comment System 400+ · 4.7★ (30) wp.org #13 ↑1 2 too high 16 Sticky Chat Widget – Floating Chat Icons, Contact Form, Call, Click to Chat, Email & Message Buttons 10K+ · 5.0★ (39) wp.org #24 8 too low 17 Genial Comments 4K+ · 4.8★ (20) wp.org #18 ↑1 1 too low 18 ActiveLayer Anti-Spam: Spam Protection for Forms & Comments 10K+ · 4.9★ (10) wp.org #15 ↑5 3 too high 19 Comment Approved Notifier Extended 500+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #14 ↑1 5 too high 20 Comment Blacklist Updater 800+ · 4.8★ (4) wp.org #10 ↑2 10 too high 21 Bulk Delete Comments 5K+ · 3.8★ (13) wp.org #21 ↑1 22 S Subscribe to Comments 10K+ · 3.9★ (14) wp.org #16 ↑1 6 too high 23 Comment Moderation/Notification Recipients 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #17 ↑1 6 too high 24 R Recent Comments Widget with Comment Excerpts 100+ · 4.5★ (6) wp.org #23 1 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.