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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “status 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 “status notification”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 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

WP-Cron Status Checker shows at wp.org #9 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 5K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.5★ average from 8 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security places #8 on merit, 4.7★ from 5040 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Custom Order Status Manager for WooCommerce 30K+ · 4.7★ (117) wp.org #2 ↓1 1 too low 2 Notification – Custom Notifications and Alerts for WordPress 10K+ · 4.6★ (124) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Notification for Telegram 4K+ · 4.9★ (71) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Notification Master – Real-Time WordPress Notifications With Email, SMS, Webhooks & More 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #1 ↑1 3 too high 5 Schedule Post Changes With PublishPress Future: Unpublish, Delete, Change Status, Trash, Change Categories 100K+ · 4.5★ (172) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 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 7 too low 7 Advanced Shipment Tracking for WooCommerce 70K+ · 4.5★ (355) wp.org #19 12 too low 8 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5040) wp.org #23 ↓1 15 too low 9 Disable WP Notification 10K+ · 4.3★ (12) wp.org #6 3 too high 10 Noptin – Newsletter, New Post Notifications & Email Automation 10K+ · 4.5★ (120) wp.org #16 6 too low 11 MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation 500K+ · 4.4★ (1435) wp.org #24 ↓10 13 too low 12 OneSignal – Web Push Notifications 60K+ · 4.3★ (360) wp.org #21 ↓5 9 too low 13 WP Notification Bell 700+ · 4.9★ (12) wp.org #10 ↑5 3 too high 14 Order Tracking – WordPress Status Tracking Plugin 3K+ · 4.6★ (73) wp.org #22 ↓1 8 too low 15 Push Notifications for WP – Self Hosted Web Push Notifications 6K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #5 10 too high 16 Post Status Notifier Lite 700+ · 3.9★ (17) wp.org #11 ↓1 5 too high 17 Custom Order Status for WooCommerce 10K+ · 3.3★ (32) wp.org #15 ↑5 2 too high 18 Order Status Control for WooCommerce 4K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #8 10 too high 19 New Order Notification for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.4★ (14) wp.org #17 ↓5 2 too high 20 WP-Cron Status Checker 5K+ · 3.5★ (8) wp.org #9 11 too high 21 Pending Status 200+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #12 ↑5 9 too high 22 Publish Post Email Notification 500+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #18 4 too high 23 Texty – SMS Notification for WordPress, WooCommerce, Dokan and more 7K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #14 ↓3 9 too high 24 Advanced Custom Order Status for WooCommerce 500+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #20 ↓7 4 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.