Plugin Pulse
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “announce”

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 “announce”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 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

Image Slider Slideshow shows at wp.org #4 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 18 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Buttonizer – Social Media Share Buttons, Social Icons, & Social Feeds places #9 on merit, 4.8★ from 396 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 Divi Carousel Lite – Make Carousels for Divi 5 30K+ · 4.8★ (146) wp.org #3 2 too low 2 Notification Bar, Announcement and Cookie Notice WordPress Plugin – FooBar 3K+ · 4.8★ (10) wp.org #1 ↑1 1 too high 3 Booking for Appointments and Events Calendar – Amelia 90K+ · 4.6★ (790) wp.org #6 ↑5 3 too low 4 My Sticky Bar – Floating Notification Bar & Sticky Header (formerly myStickymenu) 100K+ · 4.9★ (1198) wp.org #9 ↓2 5 too low 5 Finale Lite – Sales Countdown Timer & Discount for WooCommerce 3K+ · 4.7★ (149) wp.org #7 ↓2 2 too low 6 Advanced Dynamic Pricing and Discount Rules for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.7★ (120) wp.org #8 ↓2 2 too low 7 Better Usability for WooCommerce 800+ · 4.9★ (21) wp.org #5 ↓1 2 too high 8 LearnPress – WordPress LMS Plugin for Create and Sell Online Courses 70K+ · 4.3★ (597) wp.org #12 ↓4 4 too low 9 Buttonizer – Social Media Share Buttons, Social Icons, & Social Feeds 40K+ · 4.8★ (396) wp.org #24 ↓1 15 too low 10 Q qTranslate X Cleanup and WPML Import 800+ · 3.5★ (26) wp.org #13 ↓4 3 too low 11 Getsitecontrol — Email Marketing Plugin | Popup Maker, Automations & Newsletters 1K+ · 4.1★ (23) wp.org #15 ↓1 4 too low 12 Website Toolbox Forum 80+ · 4.6★ (13) wp.org #16 4 too low 13 Header Promo – grab attention with a top bar announcement 400+ · 4.0★ (2) wp.org #2 ↓1 11 too high 14 UnoDock – Mobile Bottom Navigation 600+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #22 8 too low 15 Coming Soon Maintenance Mode 7K+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #18 ↑1 3 too low 16 YeeMail — Email Template Builder & Customizer 700+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #19 3 too low 17 Stella Announcement Bar 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #14 ↓1 3 too high 18 Modal Popup Box — Popup Maker & Popup Builder 2K+ · 3.5★ (10) wp.org #21 3 too low 19 Accessible Carousel & Slider – WCAG AA Compliant Slideshow 500+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #23 ↓3 4 too low 20 GLS Shipping for WooCommerce 2K+ · 3.7★ (6) wp.org #10 10 too high 21 APG Google Image Sitemap Feed 500+ · 3.6★ (5) wp.org #20 ↓2 1 too high 22 Image Slider Slideshow 2K+ · 4.0★ (2) wp.org #4 ↓1 18 too high 23 Svea Checkout for WooCommerce 800+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 ↑1 12 too high 24 NoticePulse — Notification Bar, Announcement Bar & Cookie Notice 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 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.