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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “custom notifications”

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 “custom notifications”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 of the top 20. 6 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

Custom Order Status for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #14 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.3★ average from 32 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WPFront Notification Bar places #11 on merit, 4.5★ from 131 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #1 2 Custom Post Type UI 1M+ · 4.6★ (276) wp.org #2 3 Custom Sidebars – Dynamic Sidebar Classic Widget Area Manager 100K+ · 4.7★ (1028) wp.org #6 3 too low 4 Notification – Custom Notifications and Alerts for WordPress 10K+ · 4.6★ (124) wp.org #4 ↓1 5 OneSignal – Web Push Notifications 60K+ · 4.3★ (360) wp.org #3 ↓1 2 too high 6 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too high 7 Custom Twitter Feeds – A Tweets Widget or X Feed Widget 100K+ · 4.8★ (401) wp.org #9 ↓2 2 too low 8 Web Push Notifications – Webpushr 10K+ · 4.7★ (63) wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too high 9 PiWeb Live sales notification for WooCommerce 40K+ · 4.1★ (29) wp.org #8 ↓3 1 too high 10 Custom Order Status Manager for WooCommerce 30K+ · 4.7★ (117) wp.org #10 ↓2 11 WPFront Notification Bar 40K+ · 4.5★ (131) wp.org #16 ↓3 5 too low 12 Advanced Custom Fields: Font Awesome Field 90K+ · 4.9★ (36) wp.org #13 ↓2 1 too low 13 Custom Post Types and Custom Fields creator – WCK 10K+ · 4.7★ (97) wp.org #11 ↓2 2 too high 14 Content Blocks (Custom Post Widget) 10K+ · 4.9★ (80) wp.org #20 ↓2 6 too low 15 Notification for Telegram 4K+ · 4.9★ (71) wp.org #23 8 too low 16 Manage Notification E-mails 100K+ · 4.8★ (56) wp.org #24 8 too low 17 Noptin – Newsletter, New Post Notifications & Email Automation 10K+ · 4.5★ (120) wp.org #18 ↓3 1 too low 18 WP Custom Admin Interface 30K+ · 4.7★ (160) wp.org #22 ↓5 4 too low 19 CodeKit – Custom Codes Editor 7K+ · 4.8★ (16) wp.org #12 ↓2 7 too high 20 Notification Bar, Announcement and Cookie Notice WordPress Plugin – FooBar 3K+ · 4.8★ (10) wp.org #15 ↓2 5 too high 21 Custom HTML Block Extension 7K+ · 5.0★ (13) wp.org #21 ↓3 22 Custom 404 Pro 7K+ · 4.2★ (22) wp.org #19 ↓2 3 too high 23 Custom Order Status for WooCommerce 10K+ · 3.3★ (32) wp.org #14 ↓2 9 too high 24 Push Notifications for WP – Self Hosted Web Push Notifications 6K+ · 4.2★ (5) 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.