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

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 cleanup”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 of the top 20. 2 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

HTML Page Publisher shows at wp.org #4 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 500+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Hide My WP Ghost – Security & Firewall places #11 on merit, 4.5★ from 373 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 HTML Forms – Simple WordPress Forms Plugin 10K+ · 4.9★ (57) wp.org #1 2 Asset CleanUp: Page Speed Booster 100K+ · 4.9★ (1564) wp.org #2 3 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #3 4 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Clearfy Cache – WordPress optimization plugin, Minify HTML, CSS & JS, Defer 40K+ · 4.7★ (339) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #9 ↑1 3 too low 7 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #12 5 too low 8 PDF Invoices & Packing Slips for WooCommerce 300K+ · 5.0★ (1865) wp.org #14 6 too low 9 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #15 6 too low 10 WP-Sweep 100K+ · 4.7★ (138) wp.org #17 7 too low 11 Hide My WP Ghost – Security & Firewall 100K+ · 4.5★ (373) wp.org #20 9 too low 12 Breeze Cache 300K+ · 3.6★ (133) wp.org #10 ↓1 2 too high 13 Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #16 3 too low 14 Ninja Forms – Contact Form Builder with Calculators, Quizzes, Signatures & AI Form Builder 500K+ · 4.4★ (1397) wp.org #24 ↓3 10 too low 15 Optimize Database after Deleting Revisions 60K+ · 4.7★ (181) wp.org #23 ↑1 8 too low 16 Simply Static – The Static Site Generator 30K+ · 4.5★ (195) wp.org #22 ↓3 6 too low 17 Falcon – Cache, Performance, Security, Cleanup, and Tweaks 2K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #6 11 too high 18 Q qTranslate X Cleanup and WPML Import 800+ · 3.5★ (26) wp.org #11 7 too high 19 SpeedyCache – Cache, Optimization, Performance 500K+ · 4.4★ (30) wp.org #13 6 too high 20 HTML Page Publisher 500+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #4 16 too high 21 Easy Actions Scheduler Cleaner 900+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #18 3 too high 22 LWS Optimize – All-in-One Speed Booster & Cache Tools 20K+ · 4.6★ (9) wp.org #19 ↑1 3 too high 23 Remove layout destroying HTML-Tags 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 16 too high 24 Admin Optimizer – Performance, Security & Site Cleanup 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↑2 3 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.