wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “tab 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 “tab notification”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 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

Push Notifications for WP – Self Hosted Web Push Notifications shows at wp.org #4 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 14 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

Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates places #7 on merit, 4.9★ from 1680 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #2 1 too low 2

Notification for Telegram 4K+ · 4.9★ (71) wp.org #3 1 too low 3

Notification Master – Real-Time WordPress Notifications With Email, SMS, Webhooks & More 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) thin reviews wp.org #1 2 too high 4

Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #9 5 too low 5

My Sticky Bar – Floating Notification Bar & Sticky Header (formerly myStickymenu) 100K+ · 4.9★ (1199) wp.org #12 7 too low 6

Notivo Notification for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.3★ (80) wp.org #6 7

Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #18 ↑1 11 too low 8

MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation 500K+ · 4.4★ (1435) wp.org #16 8 too low 9

OneSignal – Web Push Notifications 60K+ · 4.3★ (360) wp.org #14 5 too low 10

HashBar – Announcement, Notification Bar & Popup Campaign 9K+ · 4.2★ (38) wp.org #7 3 too high 11

Disable WP Notification 10K+ · 4.3★ (12) thin reviews wp.org #5 6 too high 12

WPVibe – MCP Server for WordPress, works with Claude, ChatGPT & other AI MCP agents 100K+ · 5.0★ (199) wp.org #17 ↓1 5 too low 13

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 #23 ↓2 10 too low 14

NotificationX – FOMO, Live Sales Notification, WooCommerce Sales Popup, GDPR, Social Proof, Announcement Banner & Floating Notification Bar 30K+ · 4.8★ (228) wp.org #19 ↓1 5 too low 15

Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807) wp.org #21 ↓4 6 too low 16

Notibar – Notification Bar for WordPress 8K+ · 4.8★ (71) wp.org #15 1 too high 17

WPC Added To Cart Notification for WooCommerce 3K+ · 4.9★ (9) thin reviews wp.org #8 9 too high 18

Push Notifications for WP – Self Hosted Web Push Notifications 6K+ · 4.2★ (5) thin reviews wp.org #4 14 too high 19

PiWeb Live sales notification for WooCommerce 40K+ · 4.1★ (29) wp.org #13 6 too high 20

New Order Notification for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.4★ (14) thin reviews wp.org #11 ↓1 9 too high 21

Push Notification for Post and BuddyPress 200+ · 4.7★ (24) thin reviews wp.org #24 ↓1 3 too low 22

Publish Post Email Notification 500+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #10 12 too high 23

WPC Product Tabs for WooCommerce 800+ · 5.0★ (4) thin reviews wp.org #22 1 too high 24

Disable Auto Update Emails and Block Updates for Plugins, WP Core, and Themes 4K+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #20 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.