wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “html cleaner”

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 “html cleaner”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 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

AI to Elementor — HTML Importer for Elementor shows at wp.org #7 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

PDF Invoices & Packing Slips for WooCommerce places #5 on merit, 5.0★ from 1865 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Media Cleaner: Delete Unused Images & Clean Your Media Library 90K+ · 4.6★ (779) wp.org #1 2

LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #2 3

Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #4 1 too low 4

WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too low 5

PDF Invoices & Packing Slips for WooCommerce 300K+ · 5.0★ (1865) wp.org #14 ↓1 9 too low 6

Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) wp.org #9 ↓4 3 too low 7

Clearfy Cache – WordPress optimization plugin, Minify HTML, CSS & JS, Defer 40K+ · 4.7★ (339) wp.org #12 ↓1 5 too low 8

Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #17 ↓1 9 too low 9

XML Sitemap Generator for Google 1M+ · 4.8★ (2233) wp.org #15 ↓1 6 too low 10

WPFront Scroll Top 200K+ · 4.9★ (142) wp.org #13 ↓1 3 too low 11

Dashboard Cleaner 400+ · 5.0★ (5) thin reviews wp.org #3 8 too high 12

Simple Sitemap – Responsive HTML Sitemap for WordPress 60K+ · 3.9★ (72) wp.org #10 ↓1 2 too high 13

Table of Contents Plus – Automatic Table of Contents for Posts & Pages 200K+ · 4.5★ (187) wp.org #16 ↑1 3 too low 14

Easy Actions Scheduler Cleaner 900+ · 5.0★ (9) thin reviews wp.org #6 ↓2 8 too high 15

Meta Box – A Framework for Dynamic Websites 500K+ · 4.8★ (165) wp.org #21 ↓2 6 too low 16

Easy Appointments 10K+ · 4.3★ (131) wp.org #23 7 too low 17

WP Coder – Insert & Manage Code Snippets 10K+ · 4.9★ (32) wp.org #22 ↓2 5 too low 18

Featherweight 10K+ · 4.1★ (45) wp.org #24 ↓2 6 too low 19

AI to Elementor — HTML Importer for Elementor 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #7 12 too high 20

HTML Page Publisher 500+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #8 12 too high 21

Remove layout destroying HTML-Tags 100+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #11 ↓1 10 too high 22

Oli Media Cleaner 100+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #18 ↓3 4 too high 23

DevDome Admin Cleaner: Remove Dashboard Widgets and Hide Menu Items 200+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #19 ↓1 4 too high 24

Deep Malware Cleaner 80+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #20 ↑1 4 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.