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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “sales 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 “sales notifications”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 6 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

StoreGrowth – Upsell, BOGO, Quick View, Direct Checkout & Side Cart for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #11 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 7 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Download Manager places #11 on merit, 4.1★ from 1006 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 PiWeb Live sales notification for WooCommerce 40K+ · 4.1★ (29) wp.org #1 2 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #2 3 NotificationX – FOMO, Live Sales Notification, WooCommerce Sales Popup, GDPR, Social Proof, Announcement Banner & Floating Notification Bar 30K+ · 4.8★ (228) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Popup Maker – Boost Sales, Conversions, Optins, Subscribers with the Ultimate WP Popup Builder 600K+ · 4.9★ (4514) wp.org #6 ↓1 2 too low 5 Cart Abandonment Recovery for WooCommerce – Recover Lost Sales with Automated Emails 300K+ · 4.8★ (625) wp.org #3 2 too high 6 My Sticky Bar – Floating Notification Bar & Sticky Header (formerly myStickymenu) 100K+ · 4.9★ (1199) wp.org #14 ↑2 8 too low 7 Web Push Notifications – Webpushr 10K+ · 4.7★ (63) wp.org #5 ↑1 2 too high 8 Ninjalytics: Sales Reports & Order Export for WooCommerce and EDD 6K+ · 4.4★ (57) wp.org #10 2 too low 9 Countix Sales Countdown Timer 5K+ · 4.4★ (26) wp.org #8 1 too high 10 Finale Lite – Sales Countdown Timer & Discount for WooCommerce 3K+ · 4.7★ (151) wp.org #16 ↑1 6 too low 11 Download Manager 100K+ · 4.1★ (1006) wp.org #22 ↓3 11 too low 12 SALERT – Social Proof Notifications & Live Sales Popup 8K+ · 3.9★ (16) wp.org #7 5 too high 13 Notivo Notification for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.3★ (80) wp.org #12 1 too high 14 Notification Bar, Announcement and Cookie Notice WordPress Plugin – FooBar 3K+ · 4.8★ (10) wp.org #9 5 too high 15 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #17 ↑7 2 too low 16 Payment Button for PayPal 4K+ · 4.5★ (40) wp.org #19 ↓5 3 too low 17 Disable WP Notification 10K+ · 4.3★ (12) wp.org #13 4 too high 18 Gravitec.net – Web Push Notifications 1K+ · 4.4★ (21) wp.org #24 ↓1 6 too low 19 StoreGrowth – Upsell, BOGO, Quick View, Direct Checkout & Side Cart for WooCommerce 2K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #11 8 too high 20 PushAlert – Web Push Notifications for WordPress and WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.6★ (8) wp.org #15 5 too high 21 WC Sale Discord Notifications 100+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #23 ↓1 2 too low 22 WC Sales Notification 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #20 ↓2 2 too high 23 Sales Notifications for WooCommerce – Recent Sales Popup 30+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #21 2 too high 24 Store One – BOGO, Sales Notification, Sticky Add to Cart & Buy Now for WooCommerce 600+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 ↑2 6 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.