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

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 posts”, we agree with wp.org 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

Simply Disable Comments shows at wp.org #11 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 11 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

Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) places #9 on merit, 5.0★ from 423 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Disable Comments 1M+ · 4.7★ (281) wp.org #1 ↑1 2

Disable Gutenberg 500K+ · 5.0★ (735) wp.org #2 ↓1 3

Duplicate Post 300K+ · 4.9★ (1623) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too low 4

Disable Comments 100K+ · 3.8★ (25) wp.org #3 ↑1 2 too high 6

Post Types Order 600K+ · 4.5★ (296) wp.org #8 ↓3 2 too low 7

Disable WP REST API 30K+ · 4.8★ (36) wp.org #6 ↑3 1 too high 8

SchedulePress – Auto Post & Publish, Auto Social Share, Schedule Posts with Editorial Calendar & Missed Schedule Post Publisher 10K+ · 4.6★ (201) wp.org #15 ↑2 7 too low 9

Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #19 10 too low 10

Disable Blog 20K+ · 4.7★ (14) thin reviews wp.org #7 4 too high 12

Disable Bloat for WordPress & WooCommerce – Speed Up & Clean Up Admin 10K+ · 4.8★ (100) wp.org #16 ↓6 4 too low 13

Category Posts Block 40K+ · 4.5★ (79) wp.org #14 ↑1 1 too low 14

Disable Everything 30K+ · 5.0★ (6) thin reviews wp.org #5 ↑1 10 too high 16

Delete Duplicate Posts 10K+ · 4.8★ (153) wp.org #20 ↓1 4 too low 17

Disable Media Pages 10K+ · 5.0★ (17) thin reviews wp.org #12 5 too high 18

Disable Feeds WP 10K+ · 5.0★ (7) thin reviews wp.org #10 ↑1 8 too high 19

Featherweight 10K+ · 4.1★ (45) wp.org #21 2 too low 20

Disable XML-RPC-API 100K+ · 4.2★ (43) wp.org #22 ↓4 2 too low 21

Hide Posts 20K+ · 4.7★ (22) thin reviews wp.org #24 ↓1 3 too low 22

Simply Disable Comments 8K+ · 5.0★ (4) thin reviews wp.org #11 ↑2 11 too high 23

Disable WooCommerce Reviews 2K+ · 5.0★ (7) thin reviews wp.org #23 ↓1 24

Disable Post Revision 2K+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #17 ↓1 7 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.