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

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 rest”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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

SMNTCS Disable REST API User Endpoints shows at wp.org #4 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 8K+ 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

WooCommerce places #10 on merit, 4.5★ from 4833 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 Disable WP REST API 30K+ · 4.8★ (36) wp.org #1 2 Disable Gutenberg 500K+ · 5.0★ (735) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too low 3 Disable Comments 1M+ · 4.7★ (281) wp.org #2 ↑2 1 too high 4 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #7 ↑1 3 too low 5 Disable Bloat for WordPress & WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.8★ (100) wp.org #9 ↑2 4 too low 6 Disable Media Sizes 10K+ · 5.0★ (23) wp.org #6 7 JWT Authentication for WP REST APIs 10K+ · 4.4★ (74) wp.org #10 ↓1 3 too low 8 Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (397) wp.org #18 ↑3 10 too low 9 WPCode – Insert Headers and Footers + Custom Code Snippets – WordPress Code Manager 3M+ · 4.9★ (1916) wp.org #20 ↓4 11 too low 10 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #23 ↓3 13 too low 11 Disable Everything 30K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #5 6 too high 12 Disable WP Sitemaps 10K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #8 ↓1 4 too high 13 Disable Lazy Load 9K+ · 4.5★ (23) wp.org #11 ↓1 2 too high 14 Disable XML-RPC-API 100K+ · 4.2★ (43) wp.org #14 15 Disable Blog 20K+ · 4.7★ (14) wp.org #12 3 too high 16 Featherweight 10K+ · 4.1★ (45) wp.org #17 ↑1 1 too low 17 WPGet API – Connect to any external REST API 10K+ · 5.0★ (32) wp.org #24 ↓2 7 too low 18 Disable Application Passwords 3K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #13 5 too high 19 SMNTCS Disable REST API User Endpoints 8K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #4 ↓1 15 too high 20 R REST API Log 5K+ · 3.6★ (24) wp.org #15 5 too high 21 Disable Gutenberg Autosave 2K+ · 4.4★ (11) wp.org #16 ↑1 5 too high 22 Disable Responsive Images Complete 2K+ · 4.3★ (12) wp.org #19 3 too high 23 Simple Disable XML-RPC 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #21 2 too high 24 REST API Guard 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #22 ↑2 2 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.