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← Rankings

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

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 links”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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.

D

Ranked above its merit

Disable Author Archives shows at wp.org #11 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.4★ average from 7 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Disable Bloat for WordPress & WooCommerce places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 100 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 Disable Comments 1M+ · 4.7★ (281) wp.org #1 2 Disable Gutenberg 500K+ · 5.0★ (735) wp.org #2 3 Internal Link Juicer: SEO Auto Linker for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (537) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 Disable Admin Notices – Hide Dashboard Notifications 100K+ · 4.7★ (367) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links 200K+ · 4.8★ (1322) wp.org #10 ↓2 5 too low 6 Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) wp.org #4 ↓1 2 too high 7 Disable Comments 100K+ · 3.8★ (25) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 too high 8 Disable WP REST API 30K+ · 4.8★ (36) wp.org #8 ↑3 9 Gallery Custom Links 30K+ · 4.7★ (208) wp.org #14 5 too low 10 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #18 ↓1 8 too low 11 Disable Media Sizes 10K+ · 5.0★ (23) wp.org #9 2 too high 12 Disable Bloat for WordPress & WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.8★ (100) wp.org #21 9 too low 13 Disable Everything 30K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #7 6 too high 14 Disable Media Pages 10K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #16 2 too low 15 Disable WP Sitemaps 10K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #12 3 too high 16 Disable Generate Thumbnails 6K+ · 5.0★ (16) wp.org #17 ↑1 1 too low 17 Disable Feeds WP 10K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #13 4 too high 18 Disable XML-RPC-API 100K+ · 4.2★ (43) wp.org #23 5 too low 19 Disable Lazy Load 9K+ · 4.5★ (23) wp.org #20 1 too low 20 Disable Blog 20K+ · 4.7★ (14) wp.org #19 1 too high 21 D Disable Author Archives 10K+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #11 ↓1 10 too high 22 Disable Application Passwords 3K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #22 23 Affiliate Links – Link Cloaking and Management 3K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 Simply Disable Comments 8K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #15 9 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.