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← Rankings

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

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 themes”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 3 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 #10 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 11 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

Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode places #8 on merit, 4.9★ from 4699 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 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 #2 3 Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4342) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 WP Hide & Security Enhancer 50K+ · 4.3★ (275) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Disable Admin Notices – Hide Dashboard Notifications 100K+ · 4.7★ (367) wp.org #9 4 too low 6 Hide Posts 20K+ · 4.7★ (22) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 Hide Page And Post Title 40K+ · 3.6★ (54) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4699) wp.org #21 13 too low 9 Theme My Login 50K+ · 3.7★ (460) wp.org #15 6 too low 10 LWS Hide Login 20K+ · 4.7★ (12) wp.org #7 3 too high 11 Auto Hide Admin Bar 3K+ · 4.8★ (32) wp.org #11 12 Supreme Modules Lite – Divi Theme, Extra Theme and Divi Builder 200K+ · 4.8★ (109) wp.org #19 7 too low 13 Xpro Theme Builder For Elementor – FREE 20K+ · 5.0★ (14) wp.org #12 1 too high 14 Hide Categories and Products for Woocommerce 10K+ · 4.1★ (29) wp.org #8 6 too high 15 Hide Tooltips on Hover – Clean Up Title Attributes Without Losing Accessibility 4K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #13 2 too high 16 Hide Admin Bar 20K+ · 4.5★ (30) wp.org #23 ↓1 7 too low 17 Hide Drafts in Menus 1K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #14 3 too high 18 Hide Dashboard Notifications 20K+ · 3.9★ (33) wp.org #20 2 too low 19 Hide Admin Bar Based on User Roles – Disable the WordPress Toolbar by Role or Capability 20K+ · 3.9★ (20) wp.org #16 ↑1 3 too high 20 Hide Cart Functions 3K+ · 4.6★ (14) wp.org #18 2 too high 21 WP Hide Post — Hide Posts, Pages, Custom Post Types, and Control Products Visibility for WooCommerce 3K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #10 11 too high 22 Hide Price Until Login 1K+ · 3.5★ (24) wp.org #24 ↓1 2 too low 23 Hide Price and Add to Cart for WooCommerce 800+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #22 1 too high 24 Hide Author Archive 500+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 ↓1 7 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.