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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “site 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 “site notification”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 2 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 #8 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 13 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

WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 5209 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 wp.org
1 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #1 2 Site Reviews 60K+ · 4.9★ (376) wp.org #2 3 Manage Notification E-mails 100K+ · 4.8★ (56) wp.org #3 4 Notification – Custom Notifications and Alerts for WordPress 10K+ · 4.6★ (124) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #11 ↑1 6 too low 6 Notification for Telegram 4K+ · 4.9★ (71) wp.org #7 1 too low 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 #19 ↓1 12 too low 8 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #12 ↓1 4 too low 9 Disable WP Notification 10K+ · 4.3★ (12) wp.org #6 3 too high 10 Disable Admin Notices – Hide Dashboard Notifications 100K+ · 4.7★ (367) wp.org #22 ↑2 12 too low 11 Simply Static – The Static Site Generator 30K+ · 4.5★ (195) wp.org #20 ↓3 9 too low 12 Notification Master – Real-Time WordPress Notifications With Email, SMS, Webhooks & More 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #4 8 too high 13 Notivo Notification for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.3★ (80) wp.org #10 3 too high 14 Comment Reply Email Notification 3K+ · 4.8★ (33) wp.org #15 1 too low 15 Simple Login Notification 2K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #9 6 too high 16 My Private Site – Make Your Whole Site Private, Force Login & Block Registration Spam 10K+ · 4.5★ (82) wp.org #18 ↑3 2 too low 17 HashBar – Announcement, Notification Bar & Popup Campaign 9K+ · 4.2★ (38) wp.org #16 1 too high 18 WP Notification Bell 700+ · 4.9★ (12) wp.org #13 5 too high 19 Easy Notification Bar 9K+ · 4.6★ (16) wp.org #14 5 too high 20 Noptin – Newsletter, New Post Notifications & Email Automation 10K+ · 4.5★ (120) wp.org #21 ↑1 1 too low 21 Push Notifications for WP – Self Hosted Web Push Notifications 6K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #8 13 too high 22 WPC Added To Cart Notification for WooCommerce 3K+ · 4.9★ (9) wp.org #17 ↑2 5 too high 23 Publish Post Email Notification 600+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #23 24 WP Comment Notification 400+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24

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.