wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “disable wp 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 wp editor”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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 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 WP Notification shows at wp.org #7 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 12 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP Activity Log places #12 on merit, 4.7★ from 490 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More 4M+ · 4.8★ (5209) wp.org #1 2

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

WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too low 4

Disable Comments 1M+ · 4.7★ (281) wp.org #3 1 too high 5

WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346) wp.org #5 ↑1 6

WP Store Locator 40K+ · 4.8★ (312) wp.org #8 ↑1 2 too low 7

Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #10 ↓2 3 too low 8

Checkout Field Editor (Checkout Manager) for WooCommerce 400K+ · 4.9★ (1056) wp.org #12 4 too low 9

Disable WP REST API 30K+ · 4.8★ (36) wp.org #6 3 too high 10

Admin Menu Editor 300K+ · 4.6★ (312) wp.org #11 1 too low 11

Classic Editor + 30K+ · 4.9★ (31) wp.org #9 ↑1 2 too high 12

WP Activity Log 300K+ · 4.7★ (490) wp.org #17 5 too low 13

WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click 100K+ · 4.8★ (1138) wp.org #22 ↓1 9 too low 14

WP Accessibility 60K+ · 4.8★ (68) wp.org #13 1 too high 15

WP Editor 20K+ · 4.5★ (95) wp.org #14 1 too high 16

Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #23 ↓1 7 too low 17

Advanced Editor Tools 1M+ · 4.5★ (354) wp.org #15 ↑1 2 too high 18

WP Crontrol 300K+ · 4.4★ (167) wp.org #18 19

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

WP Recipe Maker 50K+ · 5.0★ (356) heavy footprint wp.org #24 4 too low 21

Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) heavy footprint wp.org #21 22

Widget Disable 10K+ · 4.8★ (24) thin reviews wp.org #19 3 too high 23

Disable Everything 30K+ · 5.0★ (6) thin reviews wp.org #16 ↓1 7 too high 24

Classic Editor and Classic Widgets 20K+ · 5.0★ (5) thin reviews wp.org #20 4 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.