Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 copyright”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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 layout destroying HTML-Tags shows at wp.org #5 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 17 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

WP Mobile Menu – The Mobile-Friendly Responsive Menu places #11 on merit, 4.7★ from 256 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 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8708) wp.org #1 2 WPBruiser Security – No CAPTCHA Anti-Spam & Login Protection 10K+ · 4.6★ (213) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 One User Avatar | User Profile Picture 100K+ · 4.7★ (41) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4342) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528) wp.org #10 4 too low 7 Hide My WP Ghost – Security & Firewall 100K+ · 4.5★ (373) wp.org #11 4 too low 8 WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click 100K+ · 4.8★ (1138) wp.org #16 8 too low 9 Image Source Control Lite – Show Image Credits and Captions 3K+ · 4.6★ (42) wp.org #9 10 Quick Featured Images 50K+ · 4.7★ (235) wp.org #17 7 too low 11 WP Mobile Menu – The Mobile-Friendly Responsive Menu 70K+ · 4.7★ (256) wp.org #23 12 too low 12 TinyPNG Image Optimization – Image Compression JPEG & PNG | Convert to WebP & AVIF 100K+ · 4.5★ (181) wp.org #13 1 too low 13 Options for Twenty Twenty 3K+ · 4.7★ (31) wp.org #12 1 too high 14 WP Custom Admin Interface 30K+ · 4.7★ (160) wp.org #15 1 too low 15 Remove Special Characters From Permalinks 70+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #4 11 too high 16 WP-Memory-Usage 10K+ · 4.5★ (21) wp.org #18 2 too low 17 LightPress Lightbox 40K+ · 4.6★ (72) wp.org #21 4 too low 18 F FeedWordPress 8K+ · 4.2★ (61) wp.org #22 4 too low 19 Easy Search Replace – Find & Replace Text/HTML/URLs, Remove Footer Credit 700+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #8 11 too high 20 U Use Administrator Password 800+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 Ultimate Watermark – Image Watermark, Image Protection & Bulk Watermarking 1K+ · 3.3★ (11) wp.org #19 2 too high 22 Remove layout destroying HTML-Tags 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #5 17 too high 23 Sidebar & Copyright Manager for Storefront by Wp-Centrics 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 9 too high 24 Hello Plus 70K+ · 3.0★ (1) wp.org #20 4 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.