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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “plugin disable”

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 “plugin disable”, 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

Disable Updates for WordPress Core, Plugins and Themes shows at wp.org #8 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 9K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.8★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin places #12 on merit, 4.9★ from 1281 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Disable Gutenberg 500K+ · 5.0★ (735) wp.org #1 2 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too low 3 Disable Comments 1M+ · 4.7★ (281) wp.org #2 ↑1 1 too high 4 D Disable Emojis (GDPR friendly) 60K+ · 5.0★ (108) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too low 5 Disable Admin Notices – Hide Dashboard Notifications 100K+ · 4.7★ (367) wp.org #9 4 too low 6 Freesoul Deactivate Plugins – Disable plugins on individual WordPress pages 8K+ · 4.8★ (104) wp.org #7 ↑1 1 too low 7 Disable Comments 100K+ · 3.8★ (25) wp.org #4 ↑1 3 too high 8 Business Directory Plugin – Easy Listing & Member Directories for WordPress 10K+ · 4.6★ (504) wp.org #15 7 too low 9 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #18 ↓1 9 too low 10 Payment Plugins for Stripe WooCommerce 100K+ · 4.8★ (303) wp.org #11 1 too low 11 Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (397) wp.org #19 ↑2 8 too low 12 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #23 11 too low 13 Disable All WordPress Updates 20K+ · 4.8★ (69) wp.org #14 1 too low 14 D Disable XML-RPC 200K+ · 4.1★ (34) wp.org #10 4 too high 15 Disable Emails 30K+ · 5.0★ (20) wp.org #12 3 too high 16 D Disable Plugin Autoupdate Emails 6K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #6 10 too high 17 Disable WP REST API 30K+ · 4.8★ (36) wp.org #17 18 Disable Media Sizes 10K+ · 5.0★ (23) wp.org #16 2 too high 19 Security Optimizer – The All-In-One Protection Plugin 1M+ · 4.5★ (157) wp.org #22 ↓2 3 too low 20 Disable and Remove Google Fonts | GDPR & DSGVO friendly 100K+ · 4.5★ (46) wp.org #21 ↓2 1 too low 21 Disable Updates for WordPress Core, Plugins and Themes 9K+ · 4.8★ (4) wp.org #8 ↓1 13 too high 22 Disable Everything 30K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #13 9 too high 23 Disable Lazy Load 9K+ · 4.5★ (23) wp.org #24 ↓1 1 too low 24 Disable WP Notification 10K+ · 4.3★ (12) wp.org #20 ↓2 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.