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

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 comment”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 of the top 20. 3 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 Website URL Field From Comment Form shows at wp.org #6 but places #15 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 200+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) places #11 on merit, 5.0★ from 423 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 Disable Comments 1M+ · 4.7★ (281) wp.org #2 ↓1 1 too low 2 WP Comment Cleaner – Delete All Comments, Disable Comments, Bulk Delete & Remove Comments 20K+ · 4.7★ (58) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #7 ↓2 4 too low 4 Comment Link Remove and Other Comment Tools 8K+ · 4.1★ (15) wp.org #1 ↑1 3 too high 5 Comments – wpDiscuz 60K+ · 4.7★ (581) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Simple Comment Editing 2K+ · 4.8★ (55) wp.org #5 ↑4 1 too high 7 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5038) wp.org #12 ↓1 5 too low 8 Disable Comments & Delete All Comments 9K+ · 5.0★ (41) wp.org #9 ↓1 1 too low 9 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #18 ↓2 9 too low 10 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #14 ↓1 4 too low 11 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #21 10 too low 12 Disqus Comment System 30K+ · 2.7★ (219) wp.org #11 ↓1 1 too high 13 Smart Attachment Page Remove 900+ · 4.7★ (13) wp.org #10 3 too high 14 No Page Comment 10K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #20 ↓2 6 too low 15 Remove Website URL Field From Comment Form 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #6 9 too high 16 Comment Form WP – Customize Default Comment Form 600+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #8 ↓1 8 too high 17 Comments Extra Fields For Post,Pages and CPT 500+ · 4.2★ (9) wp.org #24 ↓2 7 too low 18 Comment Blacklist Updater 800+ · 4.8★ (4) wp.org #13 ↓1 5 too high 19 Simply Disable Comments 8K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #19 20 Remove Broken Images 700+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #16 ↓1 4 too high 21 MM Comment Manager — Disable Comment Box, Hide Existing Comments and Stop Spam 800+ · 3.4★ (5) wp.org #17 4 too high 22 Turn Comments Off 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 ↓1 7 too high 23 GDPR Tools: comment ip removement 2K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #23 24 Stop Media Comment Spamming 800+ · 3.0★ (6) wp.org #22 ↓1 2 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.