wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “hide drafts”

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 “hide drafts”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

C3 Cloudfront Cache Controller shows at wp.org #6 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 3K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Popup Maker – Boost Sales, Conversions, Optins, Subscribers with the Ultimate WP Popup Builder places #12 on merit, 4.9★ from 4514 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #2 1 too low 2

Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #3 1 too low 3

Hide Drafts in Menus 1K+ · 5.0★ (9) thin reviews wp.org #1 2 too high 4

WPVibe – MCP Server for WordPress, works with Claude, ChatGPT & other AI MCP agents 100K+ · 5.0★ (199) wp.org #4 ↓2 5

Rich Showcase for Google Reviews 100K+ · 4.9★ (1623) wp.org #8 ↑3 3 too low 6

Classic Editor 8M+ · 4.9★ (1251) wp.org #10 4 too low 7

PublishPress Capabilities: User Role Access Control, Admin Area Permissions 90K+ · 4.7★ (143) wp.org #9 2 too low 8

Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4699) wp.org #15 ↑4 7 too low 9

Ninja Forms – Contact Form Builder with Calculators, Quizzes, Signatures & AI Form Builder 500K+ · 4.4★ (1397) wp.org #12 3 too low 10

Bit Form – Contact Form, Payment Forms, Multi Step Forms, Calculator & Custom Form Builder 10K+ · 5.0★ (259) wp.org #14 ↑3 4 too low 11

Real Testimonials – Testimonial Slider, Collect Customer Reviews and Video Testimonials 40K+ · 4.7★ (226) wp.org #13 ↓5 2 too low 12

Popup Maker – Boost Sales, Conversions, Optins, Subscribers with the Ultimate WP Popup Builder 600K+ · 4.9★ (4514) wp.org #21 ↓1 9 too low 13

BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #11 ↑2 2 too high 14

WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #18 4 too low 15

Quick Drafts Access 400+ · 5.0★ (7) thin reviewsstale but ranked wp.org #5 ↓1 10 too high 16

EventPrime – Events Calendar, Bookings, Tickets & AI 7K+ · 4.4★ (85) wp.org #16 ↓2 17

Machete 6K+ · 5.0★ (52) wp.org #17 ↓2 18

PublishPress Permissions: Access Control, Content Permissions, User Access 10K+ · 4.3★ (66) wp.org #19 ↑5 1 too low 19

C3 Cloudfront Cache Controller 3K+ · 4.3★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #6 13 too high 20

Draft List 40+ · 4.6★ (5) thin reviews wp.org #7 13 too high 21

Falcon – Cache, Performance, Security, Cleanup, and Tweaks 2K+ · 5.0★ (10) thin reviews wp.org #20 ↑2 1 too high 22

Conditional Blocks – Advanced Content Visibility Control for WordPress 2K+ · 4.9★ (15) thin reviews wp.org #23 1 too low 23

Duplicate Post – duplicate pages, copy content, clone posts 5K+ · 4.7★ (7) thin reviews wp.org #22 1 too high 24

DesignSetGo 8K+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews 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.