Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 plugins”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 of the top 20. 5 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

Hide/Remove Metadata shows at wp.org #8 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 20K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.6★ average from 14 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 8869 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WPS Hide Login 2M+ · 4.8★ (2111) wp.org #1 2 Hide My WP Ghost – Security & Firewall 100K+ · 4.5★ (373) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Payment Plugins for Stripe WooCommerce 100K+ · 4.8★ (303) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #6 ↑2 2 too low 5 WP Hide & Security Enhancer 50K+ · 4.3★ (275) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Payment Plugins for PayPal WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (127) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 Easy Hide Login 20K+ · 4.4★ (43) wp.org #7 ↑3 8 Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (397) wp.org #17 ↑2 9 too low 9 Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869) wp.org #23 14 too low 10 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #15 ↓2 5 too low 11 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #21 10 too low 12 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #13 ↑1 1 too low 13 Hide Posts 20K+ · 4.7★ (22) wp.org #9 ↓2 4 too high 14 Hide Page And Post Title 40K+ · 3.6★ (54) wp.org #10 ↓1 4 too high 15 Security Optimizer – The All-In-One Protection Plugin 1M+ · 4.5★ (157) wp.org #14 ↑1 1 too high 16 WC Hide Shipping Methods 20K+ · 4.2★ (44) wp.org #16 17 LWS Hide Login 20K+ · 4.7★ (12) wp.org #11 6 too high 18 Hide/Remove Metadata 20K+ · 3.6★ (14) wp.org #8 ↓2 10 too high 19 Auto Hide Admin Bar 3K+ · 4.8★ (32) wp.org #24 5 too low 20 MM Title Manager — Hide Page and Post Titles 10K+ · 4.4★ (17) wp.org #18 ↓1 2 too high 21 Hide Shipping Method For WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.0★ (25) wp.org #12 9 too high 22 Hide Categories and Products for Woocommerce 10K+ · 4.1★ (29) wp.org #20 2 too high 23 WP Hide Post — Hide Posts, Pages, Custom Post Types, and Control Products Visibility for WooCommerce 3K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #22 ↑1 1 too high 24 Hide Archive Label 900+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 ↓1 5 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.