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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “notification”

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 “notification”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 of the top 20. 3 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

Push Notifications for WP – Self Hosted Web Push Notifications shows at wp.org #5 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 6K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.2★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

NotificationX – FOMO, Live Sales Notification, WooCommerce Sales Popup, GDPR, Social Proof, Announcement Banner & Floating Notification Bar places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 228 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 WPFront Notification Bar 40K+ · 4.5★ (131) wp.org #1 2 Manage Notification E-mails 100K+ · 4.8★ (56) wp.org #2 3 Notification for Telegram 4K+ · 4.9★ (71) wp.org #4 ↑2 1 too low 4 Notification – Custom Notifications and Alerts for WordPress 10K+ · 4.6★ (124) wp.org #7 ↓4 3 too low 5 Disable Admin Notices – Hide Dashboard Notifications 100K+ · 4.7★ (367) wp.org #10 ↑1 5 too low 6 My Sticky Bar – Floating Notification Bar & Sticky Header (formerly myStickymenu) 100K+ · 4.9★ (1199) wp.org #15 ↑2 9 too low 7 Customize WordPress Emails and Alerts – Better Notifications for WP 30K+ · 4.8★ (184) wp.org #17 ↓4 10 too low 8 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #12 ↑2 4 too low 9 Notification Master – Real-Time WordPress Notifications With Email, SMS, Webhooks & More 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #3 ↑2 6 too high 10 Disable WP Notification 10K+ · 4.3★ (12) wp.org #6 ↑2 4 too high 11 NotificationX – FOMO, Live Sales Notification, WooCommerce Sales Popup, GDPR, Social Proof, Announcement Banner & Floating Notification Bar 30K+ · 4.8★ (228) wp.org #22 ↑1 11 too low 12 MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation 500K+ · 4.4★ (1435) wp.org #20 ↓7 8 too low 13 Noptin – Newsletter, New Post Notifications & Email Automation 10K+ · 4.5★ (120) wp.org #11 2 too high 14 Notivo Notification for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.3★ (80) wp.org #9 5 too high 15 Comment Reply Email Notification 3K+ · 4.8★ (33) wp.org #14 ↑2 1 too high 16 Simple Login Notification 2K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #8 ↓4 8 too high 17 OneSignal – Web Push Notifications 60K+ · 4.3★ (360) wp.org #19 2 too low 18 HashBar – Announcement, Notification Bar & Popup Campaign 9K+ · 4.2★ (38) wp.org #16 ↑3 2 too high 19 Push Notifications for WP – Self Hosted Web Push Notifications 6K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #5 ↑2 14 too high 20 Easy Notification Bar 9K+ · 4.6★ (16) wp.org #13 ↑2 7 too high 21 PiWeb Live sales notification for WooCommerce 40K+ · 4.1★ (29) wp.org #18 ↑2 3 too high 22 Disable WordPress Update Notifications and auto-update Email Notifications 10K+ · 4.2★ (19) wp.org #23 ↑1 1 too low 23 WP Notification Bell 700+ · 4.9★ (12) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 WPC Added To Cart Notification for WooCommerce 3K+ · 4.9★ (9) wp.org #21 ↑1 3 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.