wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “hide post”
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 post”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 4 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 Hide Post — Hide Posts, Pages, Custom Post Types, and Control Products Visibility for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #4 but places #13 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 3K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
Duplicate Post places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 1623 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.
Hide Posts 20K+ · 4.7★ (22) thin reviews
wp.org #1 2 
Post Types Order 600K+ · 4.5★ (296)
wp.org #2 3 
Hide My WP Ghost – Security & Firewall 100K+ · 4.5★ (373)
wp.org #5 ↑2 2 too low 4 
Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528)
wp.org #6 ↓3 2 too low 5 
Post Views Counter 100K+ · 4.9★ (1237)
wp.org #9 ↑4 4 too low 6 
Hide Page And Post Title 40K+ · 3.6★ (54)
wp.org #3 ↑1 3 too high 7 
WP Hide & Security Enhancer 50K+ · 4.3★ (275) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #7 ↓1 8 
Post Type Switcher 200K+ · 4.8★ (255)
wp.org #13 ↑2 5 too low 9 
Ultimate Post Kit – Elementor Post Grid, Post Carousel, Post Slider & Blog Layout Widgets 30K+ · 4.8★ (58)
wp.org #10 1 too low 10 Duplicate Post 300K+ · 4.9★ (1623)
wp.org #21 ↓10 11 too low 11 
Smart Post – Post Grid, Post Carousel, Post Slider Gutenberg Blocks for Blog & News 20K+ · 4.7★ (210) heavy footprint
wp.org #16 ↓4 5 too low 12 
Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails 100K+ · 4.8★ (215)
wp.org #19 7 too low 13 WP Hide Post — Hide Posts, Pages, Custom Post Types, and Control Products Visibility for WooCommerce 3K+ · 5.0★ (5) thin reviews
wp.org #4 ↑1 9 too high 14 
MM Title Manager — Hide Page and Post Titles 10K+ · 4.4★ (17) thin reviews
wp.org #8 6 too high 15 
Rate My Post – Star Rating Plugin by FeedbackWP 20K+ · 4.7★ (159) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #14 ↑5 1 too high 16 
WP Blog Post Layouts 9K+ · 4.7★ (83)
wp.org #18 ↓2 2 too low 17 
Table of Contents Plus – Automatic Table of Contents for Posts & Pages 200K+ · 4.5★ (187)
wp.org #22 ↑2 5 too low 18 
Post Slider and Post Carousel with Post Vertical Scrolling Widget – A Responsive Post Slider 10K+ · 4.7★ (31)
wp.org #17 ↓3 1 too high 19 
Hide Shipping Method For WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.0★ (25) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #11 ↓1 8 too high 20 
Hide/Remove Metadata 20K+ · 3.6★ (14) thin reviews
wp.org #12 ↓3 8 too high 21 
Display Post Types – Post Grid, post list and post sliders 8K+ · 5.0★ (26) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #20 ↓3 1 too high 22 
Duplicate Post – duplicate pages, copy content, clone posts 5K+ · 4.7★ (7) thin reviews
wp.org #15 7 too high 23 
Hide Drafts in Menus 1K+ · 5.0★ (9) thin reviews
wp.org #24 ↓6 1 too low 24 
Advanced Post Block – Display Your Posts Exactly How You Want 10K+ · 4.2★ (17) not PHP-current thin reviews
wp.org #23 ↓3 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.