wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “disabled”

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 “disabled”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 4 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

WP Featherlight Disabled shows at wp.org #2 but places #12 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP Super Cache places #9 on merit, 4.3★ from 1346 reviews, but shows at wp.org #13. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Disabled Source, Disabled Right Click and Content Protection 10K+ · 4.9★ (103) wp.org #1 2

TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #4 2 too low 3

MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation 500K+ · 4.4★ (1435) heavy footprint wp.org #3 4

Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869) wp.org #5 1 too low 5

Advanced Editor Tools 1M+ · 4.5★ (354) wp.org #7 ↑1 2 too low 6 C Classic Widgets 2M+ · 4.9★ (272) wp.org #8 ↑1 2 too low 7

Safe SVG 1M+ · 4.9★ (79) host-installed base wp.org #6 1 too high 8

Disable Comments 1M+ · 4.7★ (281) wp.org #10 ↓3 2 too low 9

WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346) wp.org #13 ↑2 4 too low 10

Nested Pages 90K+ · 4.7★ (126) wp.org #12 ↓1 2 too low 11

WP Featherlight Disabled 2K+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #2 10 too high 13

GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #14 ↓2 1 too low 14

Nav Menu Roles 70K+ · 4.9★ (219) wp.org #22 ↓1 8 too low 15

WP Accessibility 60K+ · 4.8★ (68) wp.org #16 ↑4 1 too low 16

Easy Table of Contents 600K+ · 4.4★ (221) wp.org #18 ↓1 2 too low 17

Change Admin Email 40K+ · 4.8★ (141) wp.org #24 ↓1 7 too low 18

Campos Checkout Brasileiro para WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.9★ (45) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #11 ↑2 7 too high 19

Smart COD for WooCommerce 30K+ · 4.6★ (52) wp.org #17 ↓1 2 too high 20

Widget Disable 10K+ · 4.8★ (24) thin reviews wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too high 21 E Error Log Monitor 20K+ · 4.3★ (48) wp.org #21 ↑1 22

Disable WP Notification 10K+ · 4.3★ (12) thin reviews wp.org #20 ↓1 2 too high 23

Disable User Login 6K+ · 5.0★ (6) thin reviews wp.org #15 ↓1 8 too high 24

Disable Comments 100K+ · 3.8★ (25) wp.org #23 1 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.