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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “delete control”

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 “delete control”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 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

Mediavine Control Panel shows at wp.org #7 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 10K+ 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

Groups – Memberships and Access Control places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 382 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 Delete Duplicate Posts 10K+ · 4.8★ (153) wp.org #1 2 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5040) wp.org #2 3 WP Comment Cleaner – Delete All Comments, Disable Comments, Bulk Delete & Remove Comments 20K+ · 4.7★ (58) wp.org #3 4 Simple Revisions Delete 10K+ · 4.9★ (50) wp.org #4 5 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #9 4 too low 6 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27820) wp.org #13 7 too low 7 Schedule Post Changes With PublishPress Future: Unpublish, Delete, Change Status, Trash, Change Categories 100K+ · 4.5★ (172) wp.org #8 1 too low 8 Media Cleaner: Delete Unused Images & Clean Your Media Library 90K+ · 4.6★ (779) wp.org #11 3 too low 9 WP Frontend Delete Account 4K+ · 4.6★ (27) wp.org #6 3 too high 10 Delete Expired Transients 4K+ · 5.0★ (13) wp.org #5 5 too high 11 Groups – Memberships and Access Control 10K+ · 4.8★ (382) wp.org #19 8 too low 12 PublishPress Capabilities: User Role Access Control, Admin Area Permissions 90K+ · 4.7★ (143) wp.org #15 3 too low 13 Image Source Control Lite – Show Image Credits and Captions 3K+ · 4.6★ (42) wp.org #10 3 too high 14 PublishPress Blocks – Block Controls, Block Visibility, Block Permissions 20K+ · 4.7★ (204) wp.org #24 10 too low 15 Block Visibility — Conditional Visibility Control for the Block Editor 40K+ · 4.9★ (108) wp.org #23 8 too low 16 Disable Comments & Delete All Comments 9K+ · 5.0★ (41) wp.org #21 5 too low 17 Mediavine Control Panel 10K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #7 10 too high 18 Delete product images for WooCommerce 2K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #12 6 too high 19 Simple Revision Control 1K+ · 3.8★ (13) wp.org #14 5 too high 20 Widget Visibility Control 200+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #16 4 too high 21 Civic Cookie Control 2K+ · 3.9★ (7) wp.org #17 4 too high 22 Image Quality Control | Still BE 400+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #22 23 Users Bulk Delete With Preview 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #20 3 too high 24 Auto Delete Applications – Add-on for HireZoot 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 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.