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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “kill switch”

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 “kill switch”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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 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

404 Image Redirection (Replace Broken Images) shows at wp.org #3 but places #12 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 500+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.5★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Stylish Price List – Price Table Builder & QR Code Restaurant Menu places #3 on merit, 4.7★ from 117 reviews, but shows at wp.org #8. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Turn Off AI Features 400+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #1 2 The Off Switch (formerly WP Avoid Slow) 200+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #2 3 Stylish Price List – Price Table Builder & QR Code Restaurant Menu 3K+ · 4.7★ (117) wp.org #8 5 too low 4 Modern Cart – WooCommerce Side Cart & Popup Cart 60K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too low 5 AF Companion – Starter Sites, Speed Booster & Growth Suite for Professional Publishing 10K+ · 4.9★ (34) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 HTTP Requests Manager 1K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 24TT Document Verifier 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too high 8 Milo Subscriptions – Subscriptions for WooCommerce and Recurring Payments 200+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #13 ↓2 5 too low 9 BeerXML Shortcode 100+ · 4.9★ (9) wp.org #17 ↓4 8 too low 10 Serial Codes Generator and Validator with WooCommerce Support 700+ · 4.6★ (13) wp.org #20 ↓3 10 too low 11 Code Unloader – Unload Unused CSS, JS & Assets Per Page 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #4 ↑2 7 too high 12 404 Image Redirection (Replace Broken Images) 500+ · 3.5★ (2) wp.org #3 9 too high 13 getSync – Staging to Live Content Sync 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↑9 1 too high 14 FatalGuard – PHP Error Log Viewer, Debug Log & Fatal Error Alerts 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 4 too high 15 SentraIP 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 ↑1 4 too high 16 Defyn Security Manager – Hide Login, 2FA & Brute-Force Protection 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 1 too high 17 VulnCue 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 ↓4 3 too high 18 Kreiswolke Maintenance Agent Toolkit 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too low 19 Agentic Bridge — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 ↓2 3 too high 20 ZeroBot Security – Login Protection, Firewall & Bot Blocker — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 ↓2 2 too high 21 MCP Logs — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↓1 22 Version Locker: Disable Updates, Rollback and Downgrade 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 ↓3 23 SpamOff – Google reCaptcha for WooCommerce 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 24 Roadmap and Feedback Plugin for WordPress – SimpleBoards 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24 ↓1

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.