wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “recent comments information”
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 “recent comments information”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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
Comment Link Remove and Other Comment Tools shows at wp.org #6 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 8K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.1★ average from 15 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 #11 on merit, 4.9★ from 4699 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
Disable Comments 1M+ · 4.7★ (281)
wp.org #1 2 
Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails 100K+ · 4.8★ (215)
wp.org #2 3 
Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5040)
wp.org #3 4 
Relevanssi – A Better Search 100K+ · 4.8★ (406)
wp.org #4 ↑1 5 
Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408)
wp.org #5 ↓1 6 
LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778)
wp.org #9 ↑2 3 too low 7 
Antispam Bee 700K+ · 4.8★ (226)
wp.org #8 1 too low 8 
Titan Anti-spam & Security – Brute Force Protection, 2FA & Spam Filter 50K+ · 4.5★ (370)
wp.org #10 ↓1 2 too low 9 
Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (397)
wp.org #12 ↑1 3 too low 10 
Simple History – Track, Log, and Audit WordPress Changes 300K+ · 4.9★ (491)
wp.org #14 4 too low 11 Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4699)
wp.org #18 7 too low 12 
AI Engine – MCP Server & AI Chatbot for WordPress, with Claude, ChatGPT & Gemini 90K+ · 4.9★ (874)
wp.org #17 5 too low 13 
Easy Social Feed – All In One Social Feed Plugin for WordPress 30K+ · 4.6★ (502)
wp.org #15 ↑1 2 too low 14 
MC4WP: Mailchimp for WordPress 1M+ · 4.8★ (1497)
wp.org #16 ↓1 2 too low 15 
Ultimate Post Kit – Elementor Post Grid, Post Carousel, Post Slider & Blog Layout Widgets 30K+ · 4.8★ (58)
wp.org #11 ↓1 4 too high 16 
Disqus Comment System 30K+ · 2.7★ (219)
wp.org #7 9 too high 17 Comment Link Remove and Other Comment Tools 8K+ · 4.1★ (15) thin reviews
wp.org #6 11 too high 18 
XML Sitemap & Google News 100K+ · 4.4★ (85)
wp.org #20 ↓2 2 too low 19 
Simple Blog Stats 4K+ · 4.9★ (38)
wp.org #19 ↓2 20 
hCaptcha for WP 70K+ · 4.6★ (88)
wp.org #24 ↓2 4 too low 21 
MainWP Child – Securely Connects to the MainWP Dashboard to Manage Multiple Sites 700K+ · 5.0★ (71)
wp.org #22 ↓1 1 too low 22 
Read Meter – Reading Time & Progress Bar 10K+ · 4.5★ (19) thin reviews
wp.org #21 ↓2 1 too high 23 
Post List Designer – Category Post, Recent Post, Post List 1K+ · 4.5★ (8) thin reviews
wp.org #13 ↓1 10 too high 24 
Disabler 900+ · 5.0★ (6) thin reviews
wp.org #23 ↓3 1 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.