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

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 features”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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

Simply Disable Comments shows at wp.org #14 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 7 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

Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) places #8 on merit, 4.9★ from 8869 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. 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 ↑1 2 Disable Gutenberg 500K+ · 5.0★ (735) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Disable Admin Notices – Hide Dashboard Notifications 100K+ · 4.7★ (367) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Disable Comments 100K+ · 3.8★ (25) wp.org #3 2 too high 6 Disable Media Sizes 10K+ · 5.0★ (23) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 Disable WP REST API 30K+ · 4.8★ (36) wp.org #8 ↑3 1 too low 8 Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869) wp.org #24 16 too low 9 Disable Bloat for WordPress & WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.8★ (100) wp.org #16 7 too low 10 Disable Embeds 10K+ · 4.3★ (20) wp.org #9 ↓1 1 too high 11 Disable Lazy Load 9K+ · 4.5★ (23) wp.org #10 ↓1 1 too high 12 Disable Everything 30K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #6 6 too high 13 Disable Media Pages 10K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #12 1 too high 14 Disable WP Sitemaps 10K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #11 ↓1 3 too high 15 Disable XML-RPC-API 100K+ · 4.2★ (43) wp.org #20 5 too low 16 Disable Blog 20K+ · 4.7★ (14) wp.org #17 ↓3 1 too low 17 Disable Feeds WP 10K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #13 4 too high 18 Disable Application Passwords 3K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #15 3 too high 19 Disable WordPress Update Notifications and auto-update Email Notifications 10K+ · 4.2★ (19) wp.org #22 3 too low 20 Turn Off AI Features 400+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #19 1 too high 21 Simply Disable Comments 8K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #14 ↑3 7 too high 22 Disable Gutenberg Autosave 2K+ · 4.4★ (11) wp.org #23 ↑1 1 too low 23 Disable User Login 6K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #21 2 too high 24 Disable Updates for WordPress Core, Plugins and Themes 9K+ · 4.8★ (4) 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.