Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “push banners”

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 “push banners”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 16 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

Ultimate Push Notifications shows at wp.org #6 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 50+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk places #6 on merit, 4.8★ from 3221 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Beautiful Cookie Consent Banner 40K+ · 4.5★ (95) wp.org #3 2 too low 2 Sticky Menu & Sticky Header 90K+ · 4.7★ (763) wp.org #7 ↑1 5 too low 3 Push Notifications for WP – Self Hosted Web Push Notifications 6K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 Cookie Compliance for WordPress – Cookie Consent, GDPR & CCPA 800K+ · 4.8★ (3026) wp.org #9 5 too low 5 Push Notification for Post and BuddyPress 200+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #14 8 too low 7 Better Messages – Chat Rooms, Group Chat, Private Messages & AI Chat Bots 10K+ · 4.8★ (142) wp.org #10 3 too low 8 PushEngage – Web Push Notifications, WooCommerce Automation & Chat Widget 8K+ · 4.3★ (37) wp.org #5 3 too high 9 iZooto – Web Push Notifications 900+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #2 7 too high 10 Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – Easy Social Feeds Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4358) wp.org #16 6 too low 11 WP Mobile Menu – The Mobile-Friendly Responsive Menu 70K+ · 4.7★ (256) wp.org #15 4 too low 12 WonderPush – Web Push Notifications – WooCommerce Abandoned Cart – GDPR 600+ · 4.8★ (36) wp.org #12 13 PixelYourSite – Your smart PIXEL (TAG) & API Manager 400K+ · 4.3★ (281) wp.org #19 6 too low 14 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #17 3 too low 15 WPMobile.App – Android and iOS App Builder 3K+ · 4.8★ (162) wp.org #22 ↓1 7 too low 16 Redux Framework 900K+ · 4.4★ (273) wp.org #20 4 too low 17 Pressidium Cookie Consent 10K+ · 4.7★ (40) wp.org #23 ↓1 6 too low 18 Advanced IP Blocker 3K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #21 3 too low 19 Kansleri Cookie Consent 1K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #13 6 too high 20 Feedify – Web Push Notifications 90+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #11 9 too high 21 WhoKnew Signal – Self-Hosted Web Push Notifications & PWA 30+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #8 ↓1 13 too high 22 Consent Mode Banner 400+ · 3.3★ (4) wp.org #18 4 too high 23 Ultimate Push Notifications 50+ · 3.0★ (4) wp.org #6 17 too high 24 Progressive Web App – PWA, Web Push Notifications and Offline Mode 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24 ↓1

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.