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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “ultimate cookie”

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 “ultimate cookie”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 of the top 20. 3 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

Ric Ultimate Cookie Consent shows at wp.org #4 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 40+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 3221 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #1 2 Popup Maker – Boost Sales, Conversions, Optins, Subscribers with the Ultimate WP Popup Builder 600K+ · 4.9★ (4514) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too low 3 WPLP Cookie Consent – Cookie Banner & Consent Management for GDPR, CCPA & Google Consent Mode 9K+ · 4.6★ (51) wp.org #2 ↑1 1 too high 4 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #11 ↓1 7 too low 5 Logo Showcase Ultimate – Logo Carousel, Logo Slider & Logo Grid 2K+ · 4.7★ (27) wp.org #5 6 CMP – Coming Soon & Maintenance Plugin by NiteoThemes 200K+ · 4.7★ (326) wp.org #12 ↑1 6 too low 7 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #20 ↑1 13 too low 8 Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #10 ↑1 2 too low 9 Product Carousel Slider & Grid Ultimate for WooCommerce 6K+ · 4.3★ (33) wp.org #6 3 too high 10 Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807) wp.org #16 ↓1 6 too low 11 Limit Login Attempts Security – Login Security, 2FA, Firewall, Brute Force Prevention 1M+ · 4.8★ (1489) wp.org #19 ↑1 8 too low 12 hCaptcha for WP 70K+ · 4.6★ (88) wp.org #13 1 too low 13 UserFeedback – Create Interactive Feedback Form, User Surveys, and Polls in Seconds 200K+ · 4.8★ (309) wp.org #21 ↑1 8 too low 14 WP Travel – Ultimate Travel Booking System, Tour Management Engine 3K+ · 4.7★ (164) wp.org #18 ↑1 4 too low 15 Loginizer 1M+ · 4.8★ (1033) wp.org #23 8 too low 16 Ultimate Multisite – WordPress Multisite SaaS & WaaS Platform 90+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #8 8 too high 17 Termageddon: Cookie Consent & Privacy Compliance 8K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #7 10 too high 18 Announcer – Sticky Message Banner & Notification Bar 10K+ · 4.8★ (40) wp.org #24 6 too low 19 Post Grid, Slider & Carousel Ultimate – with Shortcode, Gutenberg Block & Elementor Widget 1K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #9 10 too high 20 Ric Ultimate Cookie Consent 40+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #4 16 too high 21 Popup builder with Gamification, Multi-Step Popups, Page-Level Targeting, and WooCommerce Triggers 70K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #17 ↑1 4 too high 22 Convertful – Your Ultimate On-Site Conversion Tool 3K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #14 ↑2 8 too high 23 Ultimate Push Notifications 50+ · 3.0★ (4) wp.org #15 ↑2 8 too high 24 Recurio – Ultimate Subscription for WooCommerce 2K+ · 3.0★ (1) wp.org #22 ↑1 2 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.