Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “disable fatal error handler”

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 fatal error handler”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

Disable CSS JS Cache shows at wp.org #5 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 400+ 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

Menu Icons by Themeisle – Add Icons to Navigation Menus places #8 on merit, 4.9★ from 851 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 FluentSnippets – High-Performance Code Snippets, Header & Footer Code, Custom CSS & PHP Code Manager 50K+ · 4.7★ (78) wp.org #3 2 too low 2 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8708) wp.org #8 6 too low 3 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #9 ↑1 6 too low 4 Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Easy Updates Manager 300K+ · 4.8★ (726) wp.org #10 ↓1 5 too low 6 Sentry for WordPress 10K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #4 2 too high 7 SchedulePress – Auto Post & Publish, Auto Social Share, Schedule Posts with Editorial Calendar & Missed Schedule Post Publisher 10K+ · 4.6★ (201) wp.org #13 6 too low 8 Menu Icons by Themeisle – Add Icons to Navigation Menus 100K+ · 4.9★ (851) wp.org #21 ↓1 13 too low 9 Max Mega Menu 300K+ · 4.8★ (882) wp.org #20 ↑1 11 too low 10 All 404 Redirect to Homepage 200K+ · 4.1★ (96) wp.org #11 1 too low 11 Pay with Vipps and MobilePay for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.8★ (13) wp.org #7 4 too high 12 Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) wp.org #14 ↓2 2 too low 13 Disable Fatal Error Handler 200+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #1 12 too high 14 Fatal Plugin Auto Deactivator – Never let a plugin break your site 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #2 12 too high 15 Advanced Cron Manager – debug & control 30K+ · 4.7★ (39) wp.org #15 ↓1 16 WPS Bidouille 9K+ · 4.9★ (54) wp.org #18 2 too low 17 Native PHP Sessions 10K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #16 ↓1 1 too high 18 SEO Redirection Plugin – 301 Redirect Manager 10K+ · 4.3★ (73) wp.org #24 6 too low 19 ThumbPress – Compress Images, Manage Thumbnails, Detect Image Issues, WebP/AVIF, Lazy Loading, Hotlinking & More 20K+ · 3.7★ (117) wp.org #23 ↓1 4 too low 20 Better Post & Filter Widgets for Elementor 4K+ · 5.0★ (18) wp.org #22 ↓5 2 too low 21 Intranet & Private Site – All-In-One Intranet 3K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #17 ↓1 4 too high 22 Disable CSS JS Cache 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #5 17 too high 23 FatalGuard – PHP Error Log Viewer, Debug Log & Fatal Error Alerts 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 11 too high 24 Version Locker: Disable Updates, Rollback and Downgrade 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 5 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.