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← Rankings

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

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 trackbacks”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 3 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

Really Simple Disable Comments shows at wp.org #10 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 500+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Shield Security – Smart Bot Blocking, Brute-Force Login Protection & File Scanning places #8 on merit, 4.8★ from 1039 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 wp.org
1 Disable Comments 1M+ · 4.7★ (281) wp.org #1 2 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Disable XML-RPC-API 100K+ · 4.2★ (43) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #8 ↓2 4 too low 5 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 Disable Comments & Delete All Comments 9K+ · 5.0★ (41) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 Featherweight 10K+ · 4.1★ (45) wp.org #4 3 too high 8 Shield Security – Smart Bot Blocking, Brute-Force Login Protection & File Scanning 30K+ · 4.8★ (1039) wp.org #19 ↑2 11 too low 9 WP Coder – Insert & Manage Code Snippets 10K+ · 4.9★ (32) wp.org #9 ↓1 10 Clearfy Cache – WordPress optimization plugin, Minify HTML, CSS & JS, Defer 40K+ · 4.7★ (339) wp.org #16 ↑1 6 too low 11 Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 3K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #12 1 too low 12 Notification – Custom Notifications and Alerts for WordPress 10K+ · 4.6★ (124) wp.org #23 ↑1 11 too low 13 Simple Disable XML-RPC 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #6 ↑5 7 too high 14 No Page Comment 10K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #20 ↓1 6 too low 15 Better Search – Relevant search results for WordPress 5K+ · 4.4★ (61) wp.org #24 9 too low 16 SpeedyCache – Cache, Optimization, Performance 500K+ · 4.4★ (30) wp.org #13 3 too high 17 Intranet & Private Site – All-In-One Intranet 3K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #18 ↑2 1 too low 18 Remove XML-RPC Methods 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #15 ↑1 3 too high 19 Really Simple Disable Comments 500+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 ↓1 9 too high 20 Disable Comments by click5 200+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 ↓1 9 too high 21 Comment and Pingback Blocker by Himel 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #22 1 too low 22 Performance & Security 50+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #17 ↑1 5 too high 23 Disable Comments – No Comments & No Spam 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 ↑1 9 too high 24 Delete & Disable Comments 70+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↑2 3 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.