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

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 “disable all comments”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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

Simply Disable Comments shows at wp.org #6 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 8K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) places #9 on merit, 5.0★ from 423 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. 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 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #2 3 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #7 4 too low 4 WP All Import – Drag & Drop Import for CSV, XML, Excel & Google Sheets 100K+ · 4.7★ (1966) wp.org #8 4 too low 5 WP Comment Cleaner – Delete All Comments, Disable Comments, Bulk Delete & Remove Comments 20K+ · 4.7★ (58) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Disable Comments & Delete All Comments 9K+ · 5.0★ (41) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 Disable Comments 100K+ · 3.8★ (25) wp.org #3 4 too high 8 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5038) wp.org #11 3 too low 9 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #14 5 too low 10 WP All Export – Drag & Drop Export to Any Custom CSV, XML & Excel 100K+ · 4.5★ (415) wp.org #13 3 too low 11 Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #10 1 too high 12 Disable Bloat for WordPress & WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.8★ (100) wp.org #16 ↑1 4 too low 13 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #24 11 too low 14 Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #18 ↓2 4 too low 15 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #23 ↓3 8 too low 16 Disable Everything 30K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #9 7 too high 17 Simply Disable Comments 8K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #6 11 too high 18 Disable Blog 20K+ · 4.7★ (14) wp.org #15 3 too high 19 Disable Feeds WP 10K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #12 7 too high 20 ActiveLayer Anti-Spam: Spam Protection for Forms & Comments 10K+ · 4.9★ (10) wp.org #19 ↑3 1 too high 21 Intranet & Private Site – All-In-One Intranet 3K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #20 ↓1 1 too high 22 Bulk Delete Comments 5K+ · 3.8★ (13) wp.org #17 ↑1 5 too high 23 Comment Link Remove and Other Comment Tools 8K+ · 4.1★ (15) wp.org #22 ↑1 1 too high 24 S Subscribe to Comments 10K+ · 3.9★ (14) wp.org #21 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.