Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 plugin notification”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 5 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 #9 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 10 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

SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 1267 reviews, but shows at wp.org #15. 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★ (8706) wp.org #1 2 Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (397) wp.org #2 3 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #5 ↑2 2 too low 4 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Notification for Telegram 4K+ · 4.9★ (71) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #7 ↓2 1 too low 7 Disable WP Notification 10K+ · 4.3★ (12) wp.org #3 4 too high 8 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #10 ↓2 2 too low 9 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #8 ↑3 1 too high 10 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #15 ↑1 5 too low 11 Disable Admin Notices – Hide Dashboard Notifications 100K+ · 4.7★ (367) wp.org #16 ↑1 5 too low 12 Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641) wp.org #11 ↓1 1 too high 13 Easy Updates Manager 300K+ · 4.8★ (726) wp.org #18 ↑1 5 too low 14 Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – Easy Social Feeds Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4358) wp.org #21 ↓6 7 too low 15 Remove Dashboard Access 30K+ · 4.6★ (78) wp.org #13 2 too high 16 GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 100K+ · 4.6★ (708) wp.org #12 4 too high 17 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #24 7 too low 18 Notivo Notification for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.3★ (80) wp.org #14 4 too high 19 Comment Link Remove and Other Comment Tools 8K+ · 4.1★ (15) wp.org #9 10 too high 20 Noptin – Newsletter, New Post Notifications & Email Automation 10K+ · 4.5★ (120) wp.org #23 ↑1 3 too low 21 Block Plugin Update 5K+ · 4.4★ (19) wp.org #17 ↑1 4 too high 22 Easy Notification Bar 9K+ · 4.6★ (16) wp.org #20 2 too high 23 WP Plugin Manager – Deactivate plugins per page 3K+ · 4.4★ (23) wp.org #19 ↑2 4 too high 24 Disable Auto Update Emails and Block Updates for Plugins, WP Core, and Themes 4K+ · 5.0★ (2) 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.