Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 terms”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 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 Taxonomy URL shows at wp.org #5 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.2★ average from 6 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Translate WordPress with GTranslate places #12 on merit, 4.9★ from 4962 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Category Order and Taxonomy Terms Order 500K+ · 4.5★ (162) wp.org #1 2 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7520) wp.org #2 3 TermsFeed AutoTerms: Privacy Policy Generator, Cookie Consent, GDPR, CCPA, Terms & Conditions, Disclaimers, Cookies Policy, EULA 70K+ · 4.7★ (246) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Terms and Conditions Popup for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.9★ (28) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Polylang 900K+ · 4.7★ (3004) wp.org #9 4 too low 6 PublishPress Taxonomies – Tag, Category, and Taxonomy Manager – Autotagger Automatically Add Terms 40K+ · 4.6★ (195) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #11 ↑1 4 too low 8 WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More 4M+ · 4.8★ (5209) wp.org #17 ↓1 9 too low 9 WP Term Order 6K+ · 4.8★ (20) wp.org #6 3 too high 10 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #16 ↑4 6 too low 11 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4229) wp.org #21 ↑2 10 too low 12 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #24 ↓3 12 too low 13 The SEO Framework – Fast, Automated, Effortless. 200K+ · 4.9★ (380) wp.org #23 ↓1 10 too low 14 Privacy Policy Generator, Terms & Conditions, GDPR, CCPA, Cookie Policy & Disclaimer Templates – WPLP Legal Pages 10K+ · 4.7★ (93) wp.org #18 ↓1 4 too low 15 Terms and Conditions per Product for WooCommerce 700+ · 4.6★ (13) wp.org #7 8 too high 16 Remove Taxonomy URL 1K+ · 4.2★ (6) wp.org #5 11 too high 17 Legal Terms and Conditions Popup for User Login and WooCommerce Checkout 500+ · 5.0★ (14) wp.org #13 4 too high 18 Classic Editor + 30K+ · 4.9★ (31) wp.org #22 ↑2 4 too low 19 Checkout Terms Conditions Popup for WooCommerce 900+ · 4.9★ (11) wp.org #19 ↓1 20 Cookies, Terms & Conditions Consent Log 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #10 10 too high 21 WP Term Colors 700+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #15 6 too high 22 P Post Terms Order – per Post based 2K+ · 3.0★ (7) wp.org #12 ↓1 10 too high 23 Custom Base Terms 70+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 9 too high 24 Remove layout destroying HTML-Tags 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 ↓1 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.