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

Hide WP Admin Notifications shows at wp.org #6 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 18 places. Its 3K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

My Sticky Bar – Floating Notification Bar & Sticky Header (formerly myStickymenu) places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 1199 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

OneSignal – Web Push Notifications 60K+ · 4.3★ (360) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #1 2

Disable Admin Notices – Hide Dashboard Notifications 100K+ · 4.7★ (367) wp.org #4 ↑2 2 too low 3

Disable WordPress Update Notifications and auto-update Email Notifications 10K+ · 4.2★ (19) thin reviews wp.org #2 1 too high 4

Web Push Notifications – Webpushr 10K+ · 4.7★ (63) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #3 1 too high 5

Customize WordPress Emails and Alerts – Better Notifications for WP 30K+ · 4.8★ (184) wp.org #8 ↓3 3 too low 6

Noptin – Newsletter, New Post Notifications & Email Automation 10K+ · 4.5★ (120) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #5 1 too high 7

WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More 4M+ · 4.8★ (5209) wp.org #13 ↓4 6 too low 8

WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) throws errorsnot PHP-currentheavy footprint wp.org #7 ↓3 1 too high 9

MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation 500K+ · 4.4★ (1435) heavy footprint wp.org #11 ↓1 2 too low 10

My Sticky Bar – Floating Notification Bar & Sticky Header (formerly myStickymenu) 100K+ · 4.9★ (1199) wp.org #19 ↓5 9 too low 11

WPFront Notification Bar 40K+ · 4.5★ (131) wp.org #12 ↑1 1 too low 12

Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #20 ↑1 8 too low 13

WP Telegram (Auto Post and Notifications) 30K+ · 5.0★ (426) wp.org #23 ↓5 10 too low 14

Email Subscribers & Newsletters by Icegram Express – Email Marketing, Post Notifications & WooCommerce Marekting Automation for WordPress 50K+ · 4.6★ (1170) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #16 ↓9 2 too low 15

PiWeb Live sales notification for WooCommerce 40K+ · 4.1★ (29) wp.org #9 ↑2 6 too high 16

Manage Notification E-mails 100K+ · 4.8★ (56) wp.org #15 ↑1 1 too high 17

Notification for Telegram 4K+ · 4.9★ (71) wp.org #17 ↑2 18

Notification – Custom Notifications and Alerts for WordPress 10K+ · 4.6★ (124) wp.org #21 ↓4 3 too low 19

Notification Bar, Announcement and Cookie Notice WordPress Plugin – FooBar 3K+ · 4.8★ (10) thin reviews wp.org #14 ↑1 5 too high 20

Push Notifications for WP – Self Hosted Web Push Notifications 6K+ · 4.2★ (5) thin reviews wp.org #10 ↑2 10 too high 21

Disable WP Notification 10K+ · 4.3★ (12) thin reviews wp.org #22 1 too low 22

WC – APG SMS Notifications 300+ · 4.8★ (23) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #24 2 too low 23

PushAlert – Web Push Notifications for WordPress and WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.6★ (8) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #18 ↑2 5 too high 24

Hide WP Admin Notifications 3K+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #6 ↑2 18 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.