wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “wp admin disable”
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 “wp admin disable”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 4 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 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
Disable WP Notification shows at wp.org #12 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 12 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423)
wp.org #1 2 
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 #2 3 
WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470)
wp.org #3 ↑1 4 
Disable Gutenberg 500K+ · 5.0★ (735)
wp.org #5 ↓2 1 too low 5 
WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228)
wp.org #6 ↑1 1 too low 6 
Disable Comments 1M+ · 4.7★ (281)
wp.org #4 ↑4 2 too high 7 
Disable Admin Notices – Hide Dashboard Notifications 100K+ · 4.7★ (367)
wp.org #7 ↓2 8 
UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706)
wp.org #9 ↑1 1 too low 9 
WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617)
wp.org #10 ↑2 1 too low 10 
WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346)
wp.org #8 ↓2 2 too high 11 
All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676)
wp.org #11 ↑3 12 
WP Store Locator 40K+ · 4.8★ (312)
wp.org #13 ↑3 1 too low 13 D Disable Emojis (GDPR friendly) 60K+ · 5.0★ (108)
wp.org #14 ↑1 1 too low 14 
Admin Menu Editor 300K+ · 4.6★ (312)
wp.org #15 ↑2 1 too low 15 
WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click 100K+ · 4.8★ (1138)
wp.org #23 8 too low 16 
WP Activity Log 300K+ · 4.7★ (490)
wp.org #20 ↓9 4 too low 17 
All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720)
wp.org #21 ↑1 4 too low 18 
WP Accessibility 60K+ · 4.8★ (68)
wp.org #16 2 too high 19 
WP Crontrol 300K+ · 4.4★ (167)
wp.org #19 20 Disable WP Notification 10K+ · 4.3★ (12) thin reviews
wp.org #12 ↑1 8 too high 21 D Disable XML-RPC 200K+ · 4.1★ (34)
wp.org #18 ↑2 3 too high 22 
Disable Emails 30K+ · 5.0★ (20) thin reviews
wp.org #22 ↓1 23 
Widget Disable 10K+ · 4.8★ (24) thin reviews
wp.org #24 1 too low 24 
Disable Everything 30K+ · 5.0★ (6) thin reviews
wp.org #17 ↑1 7 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.