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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “remove action”

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 “remove action”, we and wp.org disagree 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

Remove Meta Generators shows at wp.org #8 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 2617 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 Remove Category URL – Remove ‘category’ base from category permalinks 40K+ · 4.3★ (61) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 A Action Scheduler 20K+ · 3.5★ (13) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Remove Uppercase Accents 8K+ · 5.0★ (28) wp.org #3 4 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) wp.org #7 3 too low 5 Bulk remove posts from category 10K+ · 4.6★ (100) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #14 8 too low 7 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #17 10 too low 8 bbPress 100K+ · 3.9★ (343) wp.org #13 5 too low 9 MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation 500K+ · 4.4★ (1435) wp.org #18 9 too low 10 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #23 13 too low 11 WS Action Scheduler Cleaner 3K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #4 7 too high 12 Schedule Post Changes With PublishPress Future: Unpublish, Delete, Change Status, Trash, Change Categories 100K+ · 4.5★ (172) wp.org #19 7 too low 13 Comment Link Remove and Other Comment Tools 8K+ · 4.1★ (15) wp.org #5 8 too high 14 Easy Actions Scheduler Cleaner 900+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #9 5 too high 15 Payment Plugins for Stripe WooCommerce 100K+ · 4.8★ (303) wp.org #21 6 too low 16 WP Comment Cleaner – Delete All Comments, Disable Comments, Bulk Delete & Remove Comments 20K+ · 4.7★ (58) wp.org #22 6 too low 17 MMWD Remove Add To Cart for WooCommerce 3K+ · 4.9★ (13) wp.org #16 1 too high 18 Remove Taxonomy URL 1K+ · 4.2★ (6) wp.org #12 6 too high 19 Remove XML-RPC Methods 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #11 8 too high 20 Floating Action Button 900+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #15 5 too high 21 Cleanup Action Scheduler 1K+ · 3.2★ (6) wp.org #10 11 too high 22 Remove Meta Generators 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 14 too high 23 Fand Transient and Action Cleaner 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 3 too high 24 Remove layout destroying HTML-Tags 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24

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.