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

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 thumbnails”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 2 plugins are 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 #5 but places #15 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

Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 7519 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Disable Generate Thumbnails 6K+ · 5.0★ (16) thin reviews wp.org #1 2

Regenerate Thumbnails 1M+ · 4.6★ (396) wp.org #4 ↓1 2 too low 3

Disable Media Sizes 10K+ · 5.0★ (23) thin reviews wp.org #3 ↑1 4

Perfect Images: Regenerate Thumbnails, Image Sizes, WebP & AVIF 60K+ · 4.8★ (279) wp.org #7 3 too low 5

Disable Thumbnails, Threshold and Image Options 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) thin reviews wp.org #2 4 too high 7

Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #14 ↑1 7 too low 8

Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4342) not PHP-currentheavy footprint wp.org #12 ↓1 4 too low 9

EWWW Image Optimizer 1M+ · 4.8★ (1842) wp.org #15 ↓2 6 too low 10

ThumbPress – Compress Images, Manage Thumbnails, Detect Image Issues, WebP/AVIF, Lazy Loading, Hotlinking & More 20K+ · 3.7★ (117) wp.org #8 2 too high 11

Auto Featured Image (Auto Post Thumbnail) 40K+ · 3.8★ (119) not PHP-current wp.org #9 2 too high 12

FooGallery Photo Gallery : Image, Video & Masonry Galleries 100K+ · 4.8★ (995) not PHP-current wp.org #19 ↓5 7 too low 13

Firelight Lightbox 200K+ · 4.8★ (361) wp.org #21 8 too low 14

Modula Image Gallery – Photo Grid & Video Gallery 100K+ · 4.7★ (616) wp.org #24 10 too low 15

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

ShortPixel Image Optimizer – Optimize Images, Convert WebP & AVIF 300K+ · 4.5★ (830) wp.org #23 ↑1 7 too low 17

Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #17 ↓1 18

Kama Thumbnail 8K+ · 4.7★ (15) thin reviews wp.org #10 8 too high 19

Gallery with thumbnail slider 3K+ · 3.8★ (9) thin reviews wp.org #11 ↓1 8 too high 20

Generate Images (AI) – Magic Post Thumbnail 5K+ · 4.3★ (25) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #18 ↑2 2 too high 21

Unnotifier — disable admin notices individually 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #16 ↑2 5 too high 22

MM Thumbnails – Hide Thumbnails from Posts and Pages 10+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #20 2 too high 23

Feed Post Thumbnail 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #13 ↑3 10 too high 24

Thumbnail Manager 100+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #22 ↑1 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.