Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 content”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

Comment Link Remove and Other Comment Tools shows at wp.org #10 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 8 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

Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 7519 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418) wp.org #1 2 Remove Uppercase Accents 8K+ · 5.0★ (28) wp.org #2 ↓2 3 Content Views – Post Grid & Filter (Shortcode, Blocks, Elementor Widgets) 100K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too low 4 Remove Category URL – Remove ‘category’ base from category permalinks 40K+ · 4.3★ (61) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too high 5 Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #7 ↓2 2 too low 6 WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click 100K+ · 4.8★ (1138) wp.org #8 ↑1 2 too low 7 Content Control – The Ultimate Content Restriction Solution! Restrict Content, Create Conditional Blocks & More 40K+ · 4.9★ (575) wp.org #9 2 too low 8 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #11 ↑1 3 too low 9 Remove "Powered by WordPress" 20K+ · 4.4★ (21) wp.org #5 ↓1 4 too high 10 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #17 ↑1 7 too low 11 Bulk remove posts from category 10K+ · 4.6★ (100) wp.org #14 ↓2 3 too low 12 Paid Membership Subscriptions – Effortless Memberships, Recurring Payments & Content Restriction 10K+ · 4.7★ (270) wp.org #19 ↑2 7 too low 13 Passster – Password Protect Pages and Content 10K+ · 4.2★ (60) wp.org #6 ↑2 7 too high 14 Content Aware Sidebars – Fastest Widget Area Plugin 30K+ · 4.9★ (724) wp.org #21 ↑1 7 too low 15 ACF Content Analysis for Yoast SEO 100K+ · 4.1★ (35) wp.org #15 ↑3 16 Remove admin menus by role 8K+ · 4.4★ (14) wp.org #12 ↓1 4 too high 17 MxChat – AI Chatbot & Content Generation for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (31) wp.org #18 ↑1 1 too low 18 Comment Link Remove and Other Comment Tools 8K+ · 4.1★ (15) wp.org #10 ↓1 8 too high 19 Remove Schema 1K+ · 4.8★ (12) wp.org #13 ↓1 6 too high 20 Content Egg – Affiliate Product Importer & Price Comparison 10K+ · 3.9★ (56) wp.org #23 ↓1 3 too low 21 I Image Title Remove 1K+ · 4.6★ (7) wp.org #20 ↓3 1 too high 22 Content Update Scheduler 2K+ · 4.3★ (12) wp.org #24 ↑1 2 too low 23 Essential Content Types 20K+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #22 ↑1 1 too high 24 Remove Meta Generators 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 ↓2 8 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.