Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “unsubscribe”

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 “unsubscribe”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 8 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.

S

Ranked above its merit

Subscribe to Comments shows at wp.org #9 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.9★ average from 14 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Cookie Compliance for WordPress – Cookie Consent, GDPR & CCPA places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 3026 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 SVG Support 1M+ · 4.8★ (356) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Customer Reviews for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (1539) wp.org #5 ↓2 3 too low 3 Cart Abandonment Recovery for WooCommerce – Recover Lost Sales with Automated Emails 300K+ · 4.8★ (626) wp.org #3 ↑4 4 Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205) wp.org #4 ↑4 5 Hostinger Reach – AI-Powered Email Marketing for WordPress 1M+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #1 4 too high 6 Email Subscribers & Newsletters by Icegram Express – Email Marketing, Post Notifications & WooCommerce Marekting Automation for WordPress 50K+ · 4.6★ (1170) wp.org #6 ↓3 7 AI Engine – MCP Server & AI Chatbot for WordPress, with Claude, ChatGPT & Gemini 90K+ · 4.9★ (874) wp.org #10 3 too low 8 Wallet for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.7★ (188) wp.org #7 ↓3 1 too high 9 Back In Stock Notifier for WooCommerce | WooCommerce Waitlist Pro 20K+ · 4.7★ (122) wp.org #8 ↓3 1 too high 10 Poptin – Email Marketing Automation, Newsletter & Exit Pop Ups, Email Popups 20K+ · 4.9★ (701) wp.org #21 11 too low 11 Cookie Compliance for WordPress – Cookie Consent, GDPR & CCPA 800K+ · 4.8★ (3026) wp.org #23 ↓3 12 too low 12 Waitlist Woocommerce ( Back in stock notifier ) 4K+ · 4.6★ (113) wp.org #11 ↓2 1 too high 13 Customer Engagement System – Popup Builder, Forms, CRM & Email Marketing Automation 9K+ · 4.5★ (340) wp.org #22 9 too low 14 CartBounty – Save and recover abandoned carts for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.8★ (84) wp.org #13 ↓2 1 too high 15 bbPress Notify (No-Spam) 2K+ · 4.8★ (40) wp.org #19 ↓3 4 too low 16 Arigato Autoresponder and Newsletter 500+ · 4.7★ (34) wp.org #17 1 too low 17 Notifima – WooCommerce Stock Manager, Inventory Management, Waitlist 2K+ · 4.4★ (46) wp.org #12 ↓2 5 too high 18 S Subscribe to Comments 10K+ · 3.9★ (14) wp.org #9 ↓4 9 too high 19 MailerPress – Email Marketing, Newsletter, Email Automation & WooCommerce Emails 1K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #20 ↓8 1 too low 20 Publish Post Email Notification 600+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #14 6 too high 21 Mass Email To Users 800+ · 3.1★ (8) wp.org #15 ↓2 6 too high 22 Email Deliverability – SMTP Replacement, Email API Deliverability & Email Log 200K+ · 2.5★ (17) wp.org #16 6 too high 23 Official CleverReach® Plugin for WooCommerce 400+ · 4.3★ (4) wp.org #24 ↓4 1 too low 24 AI Marketing Expert — AI Email Marketing, AI Content Generator, SEO Analyzer, AI Workflow Automation, Social Media & Ai Chatbot 2K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 ↓5 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.