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← Rankings

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

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 “bar code”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 of the top 20. 3 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

WPC Free Shipping Bar for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #14 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 3K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.2★ average from 13 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

My Sticky Bar – Floating Notification Bar & Sticky Header (formerly myStickymenu) places #6 on merit, 4.9★ from 1199 reviews, but shows at wp.org #11. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) wp.org #1 2 WPCode – Insert Headers and Footers + Custom Code Snippets – WordPress Code Manager 3M+ · 4.9★ (1916) wp.org #2 3 Header Footer Code Manager 600K+ · 4.9★ (309) wp.org #3 4 FluentSnippets – High-Performance Code Snippets, Header & Footer Code, Custom CSS & PHP Code Manager 50K+ · 4.7★ (78) wp.org #4 5 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 My Sticky Bar – Floating Notification Bar & Sticky Header (formerly myStickymenu) 100K+ · 4.9★ (1199) wp.org #11 5 too low 7 Debug Bar 20K+ · 4.1★ (69) wp.org #7 8 Captcha Code 100K+ · 3.9★ (35) wp.org #5 3 too high 9 EU Cookies Bar for WordPress 9K+ · 4.8★ (26) wp.org #10 1 too low 10 Speed Contact Bar 4K+ · 4.6★ (56) wp.org #12 2 too low 11 Admin Bar Editor – Toolbar Customization with User Role based access & Custom menus 3K+ · 4.4★ (24) wp.org #9 2 too high 12 MC4WP: Mailchimp Top Bar – Email Subscribe Notification Bar 6K+ · 4.6★ (31) wp.org #8 4 too high 13 Progress Bar 1K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #13 14 HashBar – Announcement, Notification Bar & Popup Campaign 9K+ · 4.2★ (38) wp.org #16 ↑1 2 too low 15 Auto Hide Admin Bar 3K+ · 4.8★ (32) wp.org #19 4 too low 16 Copy Anything to Clipboard for WordPress – Copy Button, Copy Text & Copy Code 10K+ · 4.5★ (36) wp.org #20 4 too low 17 Hide Admin Bar from Non-Admins 10K+ · 4.3★ (30) wp.org #17 ↓1 18 Easy Notification Bar 9K+ · 4.6★ (16) wp.org #15 3 too high 19 Top Bar 10K+ · 4.0★ (43) wp.org #18 1 too high 20 Freetop – Free Shipping Bar for WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.7★ (40) wp.org #22 2 too low 21 Code Profiler – WordPress Performance Profiling and Debugging Made Easy 8K+ · 4.3★ (36) wp.org #21 22 Qyrr – simply and modern QR-Code creation 2K+ · 3.8★ (21) wp.org #23 ↑1 1 too low 23 WPC Free Shipping Bar for WooCommerce 3K+ · 4.2★ (13) wp.org #14 9 too high 24 QR Code Woocommerce 900+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #24 ↓2

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.