wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “dashboard notify”
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 “dashboard notify”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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
Notify Bot for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #9 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 100+ 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
CartFlows – Funnel Builder & Checkout Plugin for WooCommerce places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 517 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
bbPress Notify (No-Spam) 2K+ · 4.8★ (40)
wp.org #1 2 
WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833)
wp.org #3 1 too low 3 
MainWP Child – Securely Connects to the MainWP Dashboard to Manage Multiple Sites 700K+ · 5.0★ (71)
wp.org #2 1 too high 4 
Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7520)
wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too low 5 
FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410)
wp.org #4 ↑2 1 too high 6 
MainWP Dashboard: Self-hosted WordPress Management for Agencies 20K+ · 4.9★ (2354)
wp.org #8 2 too low 7 
All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231)
wp.org #7 ↓3 8 
TablePress – Tables in WordPress made easy 600K+ · 5.0★ (4625)
wp.org #18 10 too low 9 
Antispam Bee 700K+ · 4.8★ (226)
wp.org #11 2 too low 10 
XML Sitemap Generator for Google 1M+ · 4.8★ (2233)
wp.org #17 ↓1 7 too low 11 
Noptin – Newsletter, New Post Notifications & Email Automation 10K+ · 4.5★ (120)
wp.org #13 ↓1 2 too low 12 CartFlows – Funnel Builder & Checkout Plugin for WooCommerce 200K+ · 4.8★ (517)
wp.org #24 12 too low 13 
Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333)
wp.org #20 7 too low 14 
Pingo Notify – Automation & Notification Chat Messages 300+ · 5.0★ (8) thin reviews
wp.org #6 8 too high 15 
Back In Stock Notifier for WooCommerce | WooCommerce Waitlist Pro 20K+ · 4.7★ (122)
wp.org #19 4 too low 16 
Hide Dashboard Notifications 20K+ · 3.9★ (33)
wp.org #10 6 too high 17 
WiserNotify – Social Proof & FOMO Notifications, WooCommerce Sales Popups, Reviews & Announcement Bar 900+ · 5.0★ (29)
wp.org #15 ↓2 2 too high 18 
Stock Manager for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.2★ (130)
wp.org #22 4 too low 19 
WooPayments: Integrated WooCommerce Payments 800K+ · 3.4★ (177)
wp.org #14 ↑1 5 too high 20 
SureDash – Community, Courses & Member Dashboard 1K+ · 4.3★ (23) thin reviews
wp.org #16 ↓2 4 too high 21 
Booking Package 10K+ · 4.0★ (15) thin reviews
wp.org #21 22 Notify Bot for WooCommerce 100+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews
wp.org #9 13 too high 23 
Shiptastic for WooCommerce 10K+ · 5.0★ (4) thin reviews
wp.org #23 24 
Receive Notifications After Form Submitting – Form Notify for Any Forms 40+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews
wp.org #12 ↑5 12 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.