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← Rankings

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

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 archives”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

Disable Flamingo Addressbook shows at wp.org #9 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 4K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More places #4 on merit, 4.8★ from 5209 reviews, but shows at wp.org #12. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #5 4 too low 2 D Disable Author Archives 10K+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Disable Everything 30K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More 4M+ · 4.8★ (5209) wp.org #12 8 too low 5 WPCode – Insert Headers and Footers + Custom Code Snippets – WordPress Code Manager 3M+ · 4.9★ (1916) wp.org #11 ↓1 6 too low 6 Disable Blog 20K+ · 4.7★ (14) wp.org #4 2 too high 7 Disable Feeds WP 10K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #3 4 too high 8 Freesoul Deactivate Plugins – Disable plugins on individual WordPress pages 8K+ · 4.8★ (104) wp.org #10 ↓1 2 too low 9 Archive Content with Archived Post Status 5K+ · 4.9★ (36) wp.org #8 ↓1 1 too high 10 WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346) wp.org #14 ↑3 4 too low 11 kk Star Ratings – Rate Post & Collect User Feedbacks 70K+ · 3.9★ (171) wp.org #13 2 too low 12 Featherweight 10K+ · 4.1★ (45) wp.org #6 6 too high 13 Variation Swatches for WooCommerce 300K+ · 4.8★ (926) wp.org #15 ↑1 2 too low 14 پارسی دیت – Parsi Date 100K+ · 4.6★ (130) wp.org #17 3 too low 15 GenerateBlocks 200K+ · 4.9★ (122) wp.org #19 ↓1 4 too low 16 Custom Post Type Permalinks 200K+ · 4.8★ (71) wp.org #16 ↓2 17 Gutenverse – WordPress Blocks, Page Builder & Site Editor 20K+ · 4.9★ (190) wp.org #21 ↓1 4 too low 18 Disable Right Click RB – Content Copy Protection, Prevent Copy & No Right Click 600+ · 4.2★ (14) wp.org #7 ↑4 11 too high 19 GA Google Analytics – Connect Google Analytics to WordPress 400K+ · 4.9★ (158) wp.org #24 ↓2 5 too low 20 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #23 3 too low 21 XML Sitemap & Google News 100K+ · 4.4★ (85) wp.org #22 ↓1 1 too low 22 MB Custom Post Types & Custom Taxonomies 10K+ · 4.7★ (13) wp.org #18 ↓3 4 too high 23 XO Security 30K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #20 ↓1 3 too high 24 Disable Flamingo Addressbook 4K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #9 ↓1 15 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.