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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “wordpress maintenance mode”

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 “wordpress maintenance mode”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 2 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.

M

Ranked above its merit

Minimal Maintenance Mode shows at wp.org #9 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 900+ 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

Dark Mode – Improve Accessibility with AI Powered Dark Theme places #11 on merit, 4.5★ from 391 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Maintenance 1M+ · 4.4★ (869) wp.org #1 2 LightStart – Maintenance Mode, Coming Soon and Landing Page Builder 400K+ · 4.3★ (874) wp.org #2 3 Slim Maintenance Mode 10K+ · 5.0★ (63) wp.org #3 4 CMP – Coming Soon & Maintenance Plugin by NiteoThemes 200K+ · 4.7★ (326) wp.org #6 ↑7 2 too low 5 Hustle – Email Marketing, Lead Generation, Optins, Popups 80K+ · 4.4★ (859) wp.org #8 ↑6 3 too low 6 Under Construction, Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode 10K+ · 4.6★ (46) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too high 7 Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4699) wp.org #13 ↓2 6 too low 8 Maintenance Mode 8K+ · 4.6★ (14) wp.org #4 4 too high 9 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #11 ↑5 2 too low 10 Minimal Coming Soon – Coming Soon Page 100K+ · 4.3★ (282) wp.org #14 ↓2 4 too low 11 Dark Mode – Improve Accessibility with AI Powered Dark Theme 20K+ · 4.5★ (391) wp.org #18 ↓3 7 too low 12 Maintenance Redirect 10K+ · 4.9★ (24) wp.org #10 ↓1 2 too high 13 WP Maintenance 60K+ · 4.7★ (98) wp.org #12 ↓2 1 too high 14 Disable All WordPress Updates 20K+ · 4.8★ (69) wp.org #23 9 too low 15 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #22 ↓1 7 too low 16 Maintenance & Coming Soon Redirect Animation 3K+ · 5.0★ (34) wp.org #21 ↑1 5 too low 17 Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode by Colorlib 5K+ · 4.7★ (42) wp.org #16 ↑1 1 too high 18 Coming Soon Maintenance Mode 6K+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #7 ↓2 11 too high 19 Maintenance mode for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #15 ↓8 4 too high 20 Maintenance Mode Made Easy 200+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #24 ↓1 4 too low 21 Lite Maintenance Mode 400+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #17 ↑1 4 too high 22 M Minimal Maintenance Mode 900+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 ↓1 13 too high 23 WP Maintenance Mode & Site Under Construction 3K+ · 3.5★ (4) wp.org #19 4 too high 24 Speedx – Maintenance Mode 200+ · 5.0★ (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.