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

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 bar”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

Remove WP Admin Bar shows at wp.org #8 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 100+ 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

MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation places #9 on merit, 4.4★ from 1435 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Debug Bar 20K+ · 4.1★ (69) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 My Sticky Bar – Floating Notification Bar & Sticky Header (formerly myStickymenu) 100K+ · 4.9★ (1199) wp.org #6 4 too low 3 Remove Dashboard Access 30K+ · 4.6★ (78) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 EU Cookies Bar for WordPress 9K+ · 4.8★ (26) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #9 4 too low 6 Mobile Contact Bar 9K+ · 4.6★ (30) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 Remove Admin Bar logo 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #1 6 too high 8 Progress Bar 1K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #7 1 too high 9 MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation 500K+ · 4.4★ (1435) wp.org #21 12 too low 10 Menu Cart for WooCommerce 70K+ · 4.6★ (99) wp.org #15 5 too low 11 The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461) wp.org #22 11 too low 12 D Debloat – Remove Unused CSS, Optimize JS 30K+ · 4.8★ (41) wp.org #14 2 too low 13 Auto Hide Admin Bar 3K+ · 4.8★ (32) wp.org #12 1 too high 14 Depicter — Popup & Slider Builder 70K+ · 4.6★ (236) wp.org #24 10 too low 15 Free Shipping Label and Progress Bar for WooCommerce 5K+ · 5.0★ (43) wp.org #16 1 too low 16 Simple Banner – Easily add multiple Banners/Bars/Notifications/Announcements to the top or bottom of your website 50K+ · 4.8★ (45) wp.org #19 3 too low 17 Hide Admin Bar Based on User Roles – Disable the WordPress Toolbar by Role or Capability 20K+ · 3.9★ (20) wp.org #10 7 too high 18 Easy Notification Bar 9K+ · 4.6★ (16) wp.org #11 7 too high 19 Better Admin Bar 3K+ · 4.8★ (19) wp.org #18 1 too high 20 Remove SKU From Single Product page 1K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #13 7 too high 21 Slugs Manager: Delete Old Permalinks from WordPress Database 3K+ · 4.2★ (13) wp.org #20 1 too high 22 Remove WP Admin Bar 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 14 too high 23 Admin Bar Fix 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #23 24 WBD Progress Bar For Gutenberg 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 7 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.