wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “comments list”

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 “comments list”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Comments Ratings shows at wp.org #11 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.2★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress places #10 on merit, 4.6★ from 1205 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Disable Comments 1M+ · 4.7★ (281) wp.org #1 2 P Page-list 30K+ · 4.7★ (89) wp.org #2 3

List category posts 70K+ · 4.7★ (254) wp.org #3 4

Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #4 ↑1 5

Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #5 ↓1 6

VS Event List 8K+ · 4.9★ (82) wp.org #6 7

W4 Post List 3K+ · 4.7★ (94) wp.org #7 8

Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5040) wp.org #13 ↓1 5 too low 9

Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #9 10

Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205) wp.org #20 10 too low 11

Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418) wp.org #21 ↓2 10 too low 12

Comments Like Dislike 4K+ · 4.6★ (38) wp.org #10 ↓2 2 too high 13

Polylang 900K+ · 4.7★ (3004) wp.org #24 11 too low 14

All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #22 ↓1 8 too low 15

ActiveLayer Anti-Spam: Spam Protection for Forms & Comments 10K+ · 4.9★ (10) thin reviews wp.org #8 ↑3 7 too high 16

Plugins List 700+ · 5.0★ (12) thin reviews wp.org #12 ↓2 4 too high 17

Social comments by WpDevArt 7K+ · 4.3★ (42) wp.org #17 ↓2 18

Authors List 5K+ · 5.0★ (22) thin reviews wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too low 19

Comment Link Remove and Other Comment Tools 8K+ · 4.1★ (15) thin reviews wp.org #16 3 too high 20

Post List Designer – Category Post, Recent Post, Post List 1K+ · 4.5★ (8) thin reviews wp.org #15 ↓1 5 too high 21

Comments Ratings 2K+ · 4.2★ (5) thin reviews wp.org #11 10 too high 22

FluentComments – AJAX Comments, Anti-Spam & Comment Email Notifications 700+ · 4.3★ (6) thin reviews wp.org #18 ↓1 4 too high 23

Turn Comments Off 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #14 ↓1 9 too high 24

Block List Updater 2K+ · 4.3★ (4) thin reviews 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.