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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “app bar”

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 “app bar”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Mobile Smart App Banner shows at wp.org #5 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

CookieYes – Cookie Banner for Cookie Consent (Easy to setup GDPR/CCPA Compliant Cookie Notice) places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 3236 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 Chat App 100K+ · 4.9★ (222) wp.org #1 2 My Sticky Bar – Floating Notification Bar & Sticky Header (formerly myStickymenu) 100K+ · 4.9★ (1199) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #7 ↑1 4 too low 4 Super Progressive Web Apps 40K+ · 4.6★ (225) wp.org #6 ↑1 2 too low 5 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #9 ↑1 4 too low 6 PWA for WP – Progressive Web Apps Made Simple 10K+ · 4.6★ (230) wp.org #8 ↑1 2 too low 7 App for Cloudflare® 1K+ · 4.7★ (14) wp.org #3 4 too high 8 AI Engine – MCP Server & AI Chatbot for WordPress, with Claude, ChatGPT & Gemini 90K+ · 4.9★ (874) wp.org #12 4 too low 9 App Builder – Create Native Android & iOS Apps On The Flight 500+ · 3.9★ (8) wp.org #2 7 too high 10 AddToAny Share Buttons 300K+ · 4.7★ (1114) wp.org #14 4 too low 11 WPMobile.App – Android and iOS App Builder 3K+ · 4.8★ (162) wp.org #10 ↑1 1 too high 12 CookieYes – Cookie Banner for Cookie Consent (Easy to setup GDPR/CCPA Compliant Cookie Notice) 1M+ · 4.8★ (3236) wp.org #17 5 too low 13 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #16 3 too low 14 Events Manager – Calendar, Bookings, Tickets, Appointments and more! 60K+ · 4.2★ (551) wp.org #20 ↓5 6 too low 15 NotificationX – FOMO, Live Sales Notification, WooCommerce Sales Popup, GDPR, Social Proof, Announcement Banner & Floating Notification Bar 30K+ · 4.8★ (228) wp.org #22 ↓1 7 too low 16 Better Messages – Chat Rooms, Group Chat, Private Messages & AI Chat Bots 10K+ · 4.8★ (142) wp.org #24 ↓2 8 too low 17 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #23 6 too low 18 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #21 3 too low 19 Assistant – Every Day Productivity Apps 4K+ · 4.9★ (15) wp.org #13 6 too high 20 FluentAuth – Login Security, Two-Factor Authentication, Passkeys & Social Login 10K+ · 4.1★ (35) wp.org #15 ↑5 5 too high 21 Add to Home Screen & Progressive Web App 1K+ · 3.7★ (25) wp.org #19 ↓1 2 too high 22 Mobile Smart App Banner 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #5 ↑1 17 too high 23 Smartarget – Chat Buttons & Engagement Apps 900+ · 4.6★ (10) wp.org #18 ↑1 5 too high 24 Mobile App Canvas – Convert your Website Into an App for iOS and Android 200+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #11 ↑1 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.