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

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 plugin updates”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 16 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 Auto Update Emails and Block Updates for Plugins, WP Core, and Themes shows at wp.org #11 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 13 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

Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin places #8 on merit, 4.9★ from 1281 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Easy Updates Manager 300K+ · 4.8★ (726) wp.org #1 2 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Disable All WordPress Updates 20K+ · 4.8★ (69) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Disable Gutenberg 500K+ · 5.0★ (735) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Disable Admin Notices – Hide Dashboard Notifications 100K+ · 4.7★ (367) wp.org #9 ↓1 4 too low 6 WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470) wp.org #18 ↓2 12 too low 7 Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (397) wp.org #15 ↑4 8 too low 8 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #23 15 too low 9 Business Directory Plugin – Easy Listing & Member Directories for WordPress 10K+ · 4.6★ (504) wp.org #20 ↑2 11 too low 10 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #22 12 too low 11 Disable Comments 100K+ · 3.8★ (25) wp.org #7 ↑5 4 too high 12 Disable Updates – Updates Manager, Disable Automatic Updates, Disable All Updates 9K+ · 4.5★ (24) wp.org #6 6 too high 13 Disable Updates for WordPress Core, Plugins and Themes 9K+ · 4.8★ (4) wp.org #4 9 too high 14 Payment Plugins for Stripe WooCommerce 100K+ · 4.8★ (303) wp.org #17 ↓2 3 too low 15 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #19 ↓1 4 too low 16 Disable WP Notification 10K+ · 4.3★ (12) wp.org #8 ↓1 8 too high 17 Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #24 ↓3 7 too low 18 Block Plugin Update 5K+ · 4.4★ (19) wp.org #12 ↓1 6 too high 19 Disable Media Sizes 10K+ · 5.0★ (23) wp.org #21 ↓4 2 too low 20 Disable WordPress Update Notifications and auto-update Email Notifications 10K+ · 4.2★ (19) wp.org #14 ↓1 6 too high 21 D Disable Plugin Autoupdate Emails 6K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #10 ↓1 11 too high 22 Disable Everything 30K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #16 ↓2 6 too high 23 WP Disables Updates 700+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #13 10 too high 24 Disable Auto Update Emails and Block Updates for Plugins, WP Core, and Themes 4K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #11 ↓1 13 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.