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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “gdpr ready”

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 “gdpr ready”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 4 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

GDPR CCPA Compliance & Cookie Consent Banner shows at wp.org #12 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 6 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 14387 reviews, but shows at wp.org #15. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #1 2 Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #2 3 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #3 4 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #4 5 CookieYes – Cookie Banner for Cookie Consent (Easy to setup GDPR/CCPA Compliant Cookie Notice) 1M+ · 4.8★ (3236) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 Cookie Compliance for WordPress – Cookie Consent, GDPR & CCPA 800K+ · 4.8★ (3026) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #15 ↓2 8 too low 8 WPLP Cookie Consent – Cookie Banner & Consent Management for GDPR, CCPA & Google Consent Mode 9K+ · 4.6★ (51) wp.org #5 3 too high 9 Image CAPTCHA for Contact Form 7 and WPForms by HookAndHook (DSGVO/GDPR) 70K+ · 4.7★ (49) wp.org #8 1 too high 10 Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205) wp.org #10 11 SlimStat Analytics – Real-Time Stats, Heatmaps & Ecommerce 70K+ · 4.8★ (816) wp.org #11 ↑5 12 LightStart – Maintenance Mode, Coming Soon and Landing Page Builder 400K+ · 4.3★ (874) wp.org #14 ↑1 2 too low 13 Simple GDPR Cookie Compliance 6K+ · 4.9★ (14) wp.org #6 7 too high 14 Cookiebot – Cookie Banner & Cookie Consent for GDPR, CCPA & Google Consent Mode 100K+ · 4.4★ (440) wp.org #16 ↓2 2 too low 15 iubenda | All-in-one Compliance for GDPR / CCPA Cookie Consent + more 200K+ · 4.7★ (397) wp.org #19 ↓1 4 too low 16 Cart Abandonment Recovery for WooCommerce – Recover Lost Sales with Automated Emails 300K+ · 4.8★ (626) wp.org #13 ↓1 3 too high 17 All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #23 6 too low 18 CMP – Coming Soon & Maintenance Plugin by NiteoThemes 200K+ · 4.7★ (326) wp.org #21 3 too low 19 TI WooCommerce Wishlist 100K+ · 4.7★ (503) wp.org #18 ↓1 1 too high 20 GDPR CCPA Compliance & Cookie Consent Banner 1K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #12 ↓1 8 too high 21 GDPR Compliance & Cookie Consent 4K+ · 2.7★ (10) wp.org #17 4 too high 22 Cookiez – GDPR & CCPA Cookie Banner & Consent Manager 50K+ · 4.3★ (4) wp.org #22 23 Axeptio – Cookie Banner – GDPR Consent & Compliance with a friendly touch 8K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 EU AI Act Ready 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #20 ↓1 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.