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← Rankings

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

Lightweight Cookie Notice – Cookie Banner for Cookie Consent shows at wp.org #10 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 5K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder places #10 on merit, 4.5★ from 7323 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. 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★ (1668) wp.org #1 ↓2 2 Contact Form 7 10M+ · 4.0★ (2186) wp.org #2 ↑6 3 CookieYes – Cookie Banner for Cookie Consent (Easy to setup GDPR/CCPA Compliant Cookie Notice) 1M+ · 4.8★ (3236) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 Disable Admin Notices – Hide Dashboard Notifications 100K+ · 4.7★ (367) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too low 5 GDPR Cookie Compliance – Cookie Banner, Cookie Consent, Cookie Notice for CCPA, EU Cookie Law 300K+ · 4.6★ (205) wp.org #4 ↓2 1 too high 6 Cookie Compliance for WordPress – Cookie Consent, GDPR & CCPA 800K+ · 4.8★ (3026) wp.org #7 ↓2 1 too low 7 WPConsent – Cookie Banner & Cookie Consent for Privacy Compliance (GDPR / CCPA / EU Compliance Cookie Notice) 200K+ · 4.8★ (84) wp.org #11 ↓2 4 too low 8 Orbit Fox: Duplicate Page, Menu Icons, SVG Support, Cookie Notice, Custom Fonts & More 100K+ · 4.8★ (317) wp.org #15 7 too low 9 ATR Cookie Notice 1K+ · 5.0★ (13) wp.org #9 ↑9 10 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #22 ↑3 12 too low 11 WPS Notice Center 3K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #6 5 too high 12 Admin Notices Manager 10K+ · 4.9★ (21) wp.org #14 ↓3 2 too low 13 GDPR tools: Cookie notice + privacy 5K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #8 5 too high 14 Cart Notices for WooCommerce 2K+ · 5.0★ (41) wp.org #18 ↓4 4 too low 15 Italy Cookie Choices (for EU Cookie Law & Cookie Notice) 9K+ · 4.5★ (35) wp.org #23 8 too low 16 Sitewide Notice WP 3K+ · 4.6★ (16) wp.org #19 ↓6 3 too low 17 Free Cookie Notice & Consent Banner for Privacy Compliance (GDPR, CCPA, DSGVO and others) 7K+ · 4.0★ (16) wp.org #17 18 Lightweight Cookie Notice – Cookie Banner for Cookie Consent 5K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #10 ↓2 8 too high 19 Notification Bar, Announcement and Cookie Notice WordPress Plugin – FooBar 3K+ · 4.8★ (10) wp.org #21 ↓2 2 too low 20 Simple Cookie Notice 2K+ · 4.3★ (4) wp.org #12 ↑4 8 too high 21 Cookie Notice lite 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #13 ↓3 8 too high 22 Unnotifier — disable admin notices individually 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #20 ↓1 2 too high 23 Notice Bar 700+ · 3.6★ (9) wp.org #16 ↓4 7 too high 24 CookieAdmin – Cookie Consent Banner 400K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #24

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.