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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “website cleanup”

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 “website cleanup”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 4 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

Cleanup Action Scheduler shows at wp.org #5 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.2★ average from 6 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Advanced Database Cleaner – Optimize & Clean Database to Speed Up Site Performance places #8 on merit, 4.9★ from 1962 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 Starter Templates: AI-Powered Website Templates for Elementor & Gutenberg 1M+ · 4.9★ (4755) wp.org #3 ↑1 2 too low 2 Website LLMs.txt 50K+ · 4.7★ (12) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Asset CleanUp: Page Speed Booster 100K+ · 4.9★ (1564) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too low 4 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #7 ↓2 2 too low 6 WP Comment Cleaner – Delete All Comments, Disable Comments, Bulk Delete & Remove Comments 20K+ · 4.7★ (58) wp.org #8 ↓1 2 too low 7 Disable Bloat for WordPress & WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.8★ (100) wp.org #11 ↓1 4 too low 8 Advanced Database Cleaner – Optimize & Clean Database to Speed Up Site Performance 100K+ · 4.9★ (1962) wp.org #21 ↓8 13 too low 9 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #15 ↑5 6 too low 10 10Web Booster – Website speed optimization, Cache & Page Speed optimizer 60K+ · 4.6★ (405) wp.org #16 ↓1 6 too low 11 SweepPress: Website Cleanup and Optimization 500+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #2 9 too high 12 Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #17 ↑2 5 too low 13 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #22 ↓1 9 too low 14 FastPixel Cache – Optimize Page Speed: Compress Images, Minify, Clean Database & CDN 4K+ · 4.8★ (50) wp.org #10 ↓1 4 too high 15 WP Meteor Website Speed Optimization Addon 20K+ · 4.7★ (77) wp.org #14 1 too high 16 Modular DS: Monitor, update, and backup multiple websites 40K+ · 5.0★ (133) wp.org #19 ↓3 3 too low 17 Kadence Starter Templates — Predesigned Website Templates 200K+ · 4.3★ (19) wp.org #9 ↓1 8 too high 18 Breeze Cache 300K+ · 3.6★ (133) wp.org #18 19 TWIPLA – Website Intelligence 800+ · 4.6★ (18) wp.org #20 ↓3 1 too low 20 Falcon – Cache, Performance, Security, Cleanup, and Tweaks 2K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #12 ↓1 8 too high 21 Cleanup Action Scheduler 1K+ · 3.2★ (6) wp.org #5 16 too high 22 SpeedyCache – Cache, Optimization, Performance 500K+ · 4.4★ (30) wp.org #24 ↓2 2 too low 23 Virusdie | One-click website security 2K+ · 4.0★ (9) wp.org #13 ↓1 10 too high 24 DevDome Media Cleaner: Remove Unused Images & Media Library Cleanup 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #23 1 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.