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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “declutter admin”

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 “declutter admin”, we and wp.org disagree 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 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

Maestro: The Inline Admin Menu Editor shows at wp.org #7 but places #13 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 10+ 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

Delete Duplicate Posts places #2 on merit, 4.8★ from 153 reviews, but shows at wp.org #6. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Breeze Cache 300K+ · 3.6★ (133) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Delete Duplicate Posts 10K+ · 4.8★ (153) wp.org #6 4 too low 3 Easy Hide Admin Menu Items 1K+ · 5.0★ (14) wp.org #3 4 Customize Admin 3K+ · 3.6★ (5) wp.org #1 3 too high 5 Jetpack Without Promotions 1K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Speed Booster Pack ⚡ PageSpeed Optimization Suite 8K+ · 4.3★ (186) wp.org #10 4 too low 7 Hide Dashboard Notifications 20K+ · 3.9★ (33) wp.org #8 1 too low 8 DevDome Admin Cleaner: Remove Dashboard Widgets and Hide Menu Items 200+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #5 3 too high 9 Selfish Fresh Start 20+ · 4.0★ (5) wp.org #9 10 ArchiveMaster – Auto Archive and Export Old Orders for WooCommerce 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #12 2 too low 11 Webtaru Site Options and Login Security — · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #19 ↑1 8 too low 12 Disable Admin Dashboard Notices – Get a distraction free WordPress backend 1K+ · 3.4★ (5) wp.org #14 2 too low 13 Maestro: The Inline Admin Menu Editor 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 6 too high 14 Trivha Admin Hider — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 1 too high 15 Arik Admin Screen Customizer — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 4 too high 16 Clicks Admin Toolkit — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 1 too high 17 Edminboost – Admin white label, Menu Editor, theme, topbar shortcuts — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 1 too high 18 RationalCleanup 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 19 WPFalcons Menu Restrictions — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 2 too low 20 Gyta Buyback | WooCommerce Product Trade-In and Buy Back System 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 3 too high 21 DamaSoft FocusDesk — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 1 too low 22 Product Like and Hide — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 1 too low 23 Clicks Order Archiver — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 CommentXpert – Private Comments, Comment Modifications, and Advanced Commenting Features 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 ↓1 4 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.