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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “comments notice”

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 “comments notice”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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.

S

Ranked above its merit

Subscribe to Comments shows at wp.org #7 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.9★ average from 14 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin places #12 on merit, 4.4★ from 1445 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Disable Comments 1M+ · 4.7★ (281) wp.org #1 2 Cookie Compliance for WordPress – Cookie Consent, GDPR & CCPA 800K+ · 4.8★ (3026) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #9 ↓4 5 too low 5 Disable Comments & Delete All Comments 9K+ · 5.0★ (41) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too high 6 GDPR Cookie Compliance – Cookie Banner, Cookie Consent, Cookie Notice for CCPA, EU Cookie Law 300K+ · 4.6★ (205) wp.org #6 ↓2 7 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5040) wp.org #12 ↓1 5 too low 8 Genial Comments 4K+ · 4.8★ (20) wp.org #5 ↑1 3 too high 9 Ajaxify Comments – Ajax and Lazy Loading Comments 3K+ · 4.8★ (91) wp.org #10 ↓2 1 too low 10 Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #13 ↓1 3 too low 11 Orbit Fox: Duplicate Page, Menu Icons, SVG Support, Cookie Notice, Custom Fonts & More 100K+ · 4.8★ (317) wp.org #19 ↑4 8 too low 12 Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #21 ↓3 9 too low 13 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #15 ↓2 2 too low 14 Comments Like Dislike 4K+ · 4.6★ (38) wp.org #11 ↓2 3 too high 15 WPConsent – Cookie Banner & Cookie Consent for Privacy Compliance (GDPR / CCPA / EU Compliance Cookie Notice) 200K+ · 4.8★ (84) wp.org #17 ↓1 2 too low 16 ActiveLayer Anti-Spam: Spam Protection for Forms & Comments 10K+ · 4.9★ (10) wp.org #8 ↑2 8 too high 17 S Subscribe to Comments 10K+ · 3.9★ (14) wp.org #7 10 too high 18 Social comments by WpDevArt 7K+ · 4.3★ (42) wp.org #16 ↓1 2 too high 19 Simple Comment Editing 2K+ · 4.8★ (55) wp.org #23 ↓1 4 too low 20 Lazy Social Comments 900+ · 4.5★ (19) wp.org #22 ↓1 2 too low 21 Comment Link Remove and Other Comment Tools 8K+ · 4.1★ (15) wp.org #18 ↓1 3 too high 22 FluentComments – AJAX Comments, Anti-Spam & Comment Email Notifications 700+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #14 8 too high 23 Zeno Report Comments 200+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 MM Comment Manager — Disable Comment Box, Hide Existing Comments and Stop Spam 800+ · 3.4★ (5) wp.org #20 4 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.