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

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 theme editor”, 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.

Ranked above its merit

Disable Everything shows at wp.org #10 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 30K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 6 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP Rollback – Rollback Plugins and Themes places #12 on merit, 4.9★ from 215 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 signals wp.org

Classic Editor 8M+ · 4.9★ (1251) wp.org #1 2

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

Disable Comments 1M+ · 4.7★ (281) wp.org #3 4

Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #6 2 too low 5

Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4342) not PHP-currentheavy footprint wp.org #5 ↓1 6

Checkout Field Editor (Checkout Manager) for WooCommerce 400K+ · 4.9★ (1056) wp.org #8 ↓1 2 too low 7

Classic Editor + 30K+ · 4.9★ (31) wp.org #4 ↑1 3 too high 8

Admin Menu Editor 300K+ · 4.6★ (312) wp.org #7 ↑1 1 too high 9

Advanced Editor Tools 1M+ · 4.5★ (354) wp.org #9 10

Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #15 ↓2 5 too low 11

Disable WP REST API 30K+ · 4.8★ (36) wp.org #11 ↑3 12

WP Rollback – Rollback Plugins and Themes 200K+ · 4.9★ (215) wp.org #21 9 too low 13

HTML Editor Syntax Highlighter 60K+ · 4.4★ (110) wp.org #16 3 too low 14

Disable Bloat for WordPress & WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.8★ (100) wp.org #18 4 too low 15

WP Editor 20K+ · 4.5★ (95) wp.org #17 2 too low 16

Theme Switcha – Easily Switch Themes for Development and Testing 7K+ · 4.4★ (63) wp.org #13 ↓2 3 too high 17

Create Block Theme 20K+ · 4.8★ (38) wp.org #19 2 too low 18

Visual CSS Style Editor 30K+ · 4.1★ (90) wp.org #22 4 too low 19

Disable WP Notification 10K+ · 4.3★ (12) thin reviews wp.org #12 7 too high 20

Disable Everything 30K+ · 5.0★ (6) thin reviews wp.org #10 10 too high 21

Disable XML-RPC-API 100K+ · 4.2★ (43) wp.org #23 2 too low 22

BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #24 2 too low 23

Disable Blog 20K+ · 4.7★ (14) thin reviews wp.org #20 3 too high 24

Disable Gutenberg 500+ · 5.0★ (1) not PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #14 ↑1 10 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.