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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “disk free”

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 “disk free”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

Disk Usage Details shows at wp.org #6 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 70+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 8706 reviews, but shows at wp.org #12. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Auto-Install Free SSL – Generate & Install Free SSL Certificates 8K+ · 4.9★ (405) wp.org #1 2 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #2 3 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #3 4 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 3K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #12 5 too low 8 Akismet Anti-spam: Spam Protection 5M+ · 4.7★ (1187) wp.org #10 2 too low 9 reSmush.it : The original free image compressor and optimizer plugin 100K+ · 4.3★ (166) wp.org #8 1 too high 10 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #14 4 too low 11 Imsanity 200K+ · 4.9★ (291) wp.org #15 ↑1 4 too low 12 Big File Uploads – Increase Maximum File Upload Size 100K+ · 4.9★ (402) wp.org #17 5 too low 13 ShortPixel Image Optimizer – Optimize Images, Convert WebP & AVIF 300K+ · 4.5★ (830) wp.org #23 ↓3 10 too low 14 Cimo – Free Instant Image Optimizer & WebP Converter 10K+ · 4.9★ (20) wp.org #11 3 too high 15 Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4342) wp.org #21 ↑1 6 too low 16 EasyMedia – Increase Media Upload File Size | Role-Based Upload Limit | Increase Execution Time 70K+ · 4.9★ (99) wp.org #19 3 too low 17 WC – APG Free Shipping 1K+ · 4.6★ (11) wp.org #7 10 too high 18 Hosting Benchmark tool 4K+ · 4.7★ (33) wp.org #22 ↑1 4 too low 19 Code Profiler – WordPress Performance Profiling and Debugging Made Easy 8K+ · 4.3★ (36) wp.org #20 ↑1 1 too low 20 Media Library File Size 6K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #18 2 too high 21 Disk Usage Details 70+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 15 too high 22 Dashboard: Available Disk Space 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 9 too high 23 WPLifeCycle – Free PHP Version Info & Website Manager 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 ↓1 7 too high 24 DailyBuddy — Free All-in-One Toolkit 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24

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.