wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “private note tab”

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 “private note tab”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

Private User Notes shows at wp.org #9 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Chatway Live Chat – AI Chatbot, Customer Support, FAQ & Helpdesk Customer Service & Chat Buttons places #8 on merit, 5.0★ from 775 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #1 2

Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #6 4 too low 3

My Private Site – Make Your Whole Site Private, Force Login & Block Registration Spam 10K+ · 4.5★ (82) wp.org #3 4

LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #5 1 too low 5

AI Engine – MCP Server & AI Chatbot for WordPress, with Claude, ChatGPT & Gemini 90K+ · 4.9★ (874) wp.org #7 2 too low 6

Private Google Calendars 1K+ · 4.8★ (23) thin reviews wp.org #4 2 too high 7

WPCode – Insert Headers and Footers + Custom Code Snippets – WordPress Code Manager 3M+ · 4.9★ (1917) wp.org #10 ↓2 3 too low 8

Chatway Live Chat – AI Chatbot, Customer Support, FAQ & Helpdesk Customer Service & Chat Buttons 30K+ · 5.0★ (775) wp.org #16 ↓1 8 too low 9

Product Notes Tab & Private Admin Notes for WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) thin reviews wp.org #2 7 too high 10

Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4699) wp.org #18 ↑5 8 too low 11

SVG Support 1M+ · 4.8★ (356) wp.org #11 12

Masteriyo LMS – LMS Course Builder, Quizzes & Certificates 6K+ · 4.8★ (184) wp.org #14 2 too low 13

OpenStation – Admin Dashboard Notes, Custom Dashboard, AI Assistant & PWA 1K+ · 5.0★ (23) thin reviews wp.org #8 ↑1 5 too high 14

Table Field Add-on for ACF and SCF 50K+ · 4.9★ (60) wp.org #13 ↓3 1 too high 15

ECS – Ele Custom Skin for Elementor 100K+ · 4.6★ (117) wp.org #15 ↑2 16

ProfileGrid – User Profiles, Groups and Communities 5K+ · 4.6★ (236) wp.org #22 ↓2 6 too low 17

WP Crontrol 300K+ · 4.4★ (167) wp.org #21 ↓7 4 too low 18

Password Protected 300K+ · 4.4★ (142) wp.org #23 ↓10 5 too low 19

Easy MCP AI – Connect Claude to WordPress: MCP Server for ChatGPT & AI Agents 30K+ · 4.9★ (16) thin reviews wp.org #17 ↓1 2 too high 20

EU Withdrawal and Legal Guarantee Compliance 1K+ · 5.0★ (17) thin reviews wp.org #20 ↓8 21

Frontend User Notes 70+ · 5.0★ (4) thin reviews wp.org #12 10 too high 23

Changeloger – Changelog, Release Notes, Roadmap & Feature Requests 200+ · 5.0★ (5) thin reviews wp.org #19 ↓8 4 too high 24

Private User Notes 100+ · 4.3★ (3) thin reviewsstale but ranked wp.org #9 ↓2 15 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.