Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “announcement”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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.

Ranked above its merit

Header Promo – grab attention with a top bar announcement shows at wp.org #11 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 400+ 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

Asset CleanUp: Page Speed Booster places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 1564 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 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 #1 2 Simple Banner – Easily add multiple Banners/Bars/Notifications/Announcements to the top or bottom of your website 50K+ · 4.8★ (45) wp.org #2 3 HashBar – Announcement, Notification Bar & Popup Campaign 9K+ · 4.2★ (38) wp.org #3 4 NotificationX – FOMO, Live Sales Notification, WooCommerce Sales Popup, GDPR, Social Proof, Announcement Banner & Floating Notification Bar 30K+ · 4.8★ (228) wp.org #7 3 too low 5 Simple Custom Post Order 300K+ · 4.8★ (587) wp.org #10 ↓2 5 too low 6 Coupon X – Discount Popups, Promo Codes Pop Ups for WooCommerce & Announcement Popups 1K+ · 4.9★ (52) wp.org #6 7 My Sticky Bar – Floating Notification Bar & Sticky Header (formerly myStickymenu) 100K+ · 4.9★ (1199) wp.org #13 6 too low 8 SVG Support 1M+ · 4.8★ (356) wp.org #9 1 too low 9 Asset CleanUp: Page Speed Booster 100K+ · 4.9★ (1564) wp.org #17 ↓7 8 too low 10 Front End PM 4K+ · 4.8★ (220) wp.org #15 ↑10 5 too low 11 Announcement & Notification Banner – Bulletin 2K+ · 4.6★ (20) wp.org #4 7 too high 12 Notification Bar, Announcement and Cookie Notice WordPress Plugin – FooBar 3K+ · 4.8★ (10) wp.org #5 7 too high 13 TermsFeed AutoTerms: Privacy Policy Generator, Cookie Consent, GDPR, CCPA, Terms & Conditions, Disclaimers, Cookies Policy, EULA 70K+ · 4.7★ (246) wp.org #20 ↑1 7 too low 14 Masteriyo LMS – LMS Course Builder, Quizzes & Certificates 6K+ · 4.8★ (184) wp.org #14 ↑7 15 Announcer – Sticky Message Banner & Notification Bar 10K+ · 4.8★ (40) wp.org #16 ↓2 1 too low 16 Popup Box – Create Countdown, Coupon, Video, Contact Form Popups 50K+ · 4.6★ (82) wp.org #21 ↑2 5 too low 17 WiserNotify – Social Proof & FOMO Notifications, WooCommerce Sales Popups, Reviews & Announcement Bar 900+ · 5.0★ (29) wp.org #24 ↓6 7 too low 18 Advanced Popups 60K+ · 4.0★ (9) wp.org #18 ↓2 19 Stella Announcement Bar 30+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #8 ↑1 11 too high 20 YooBar – Notification Bar & Announcement Bar 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 8 too high 21 TinyBar – Display notification bar, banner, announcement at the top or bottom of your website 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #22 ↓2 1 too low 22 DMC Promo Banner – Sale Notifications & Announcement Bar 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 ↓4 3 too high 23 NoticePulse — Notification Bar, Announcement Bar & Cookie Notice 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 24 Header Promo – grab attention with a top bar announcement 400+ · 4.0★ (2) wp.org #11 13 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.