ApplyOnline – Application Form Builder and Manager
by Farhan Noor · Forms
Also makes 1 other plugin · 7K+ installs across the portfolio →
Powerful & intuitive plugin to post ads and start receiving applications online.
Try it live opens a temporary test site in your browser, which can take about 20 seconds to load. Plugins that rely on outside services or a full server may not work completely there.
Health
A 85/100
no flags
Active installs
2K+
≈2.6K estimated
Momentum
+66%
downloads vs prior 30d
Biggest opportunity: Swap “contact form”, “custom form” and “form builder” for “application”, “application form” and “applications”. “contact form” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “application” sits at #5 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. “custom form” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “application form” sits at #11 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. “form builder” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “applications” sits at #13 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. All five slots are taken, so one has to go.
85 health vs 65 average across 2,509 Forms plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →0.8%
of downloads still active
At least 2K of 247.8K lifetime downloads are still running, below its category: the median Forms plugin keeps 1.2%, across 1,668 plugins.
Downloads count every update, not just first installs, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower. Compare against other Forms plugins, not across the directory. wp.org reports active installs as the bottom of a band, so the real rate is this or higher.
This plugin shipped 9 releases in the last 12 months, and every existing install that updated counted as another download. wp.org publishes no split between first installs and updates, so we show the raw rate rather than guess at one.
Details
Directory ranking optimization
How it's scored →How well this listing is tuned to rank in WordPress.org search, on the factors an owner controls. Not popularity, optimization.
Well optimized
Most to gain: Support resolution
Updated 33 days ago
Tested up to WordPress 7.1.4, the current branch or newer
4.1★ over 40 reviews, smoothed to 4.10★
5 of 5 tags set · short description in place
0 of 1 support threads resolved in the last 2 months
To rank higher: Mark more forum threads resolved — the resolved ratio feeds the ranking.
Get the full rank-higher report →Search visibility
How it's tracked →Directory searches this plugin turns up in, and which way each one is moving. WordPress.org publishes no history of search positions, so this starts the day we first tracked a keyword and never backfills.
38
Momentum
Losing ground
-0.3
Velocity
places per keyword, 27d
19%
Breadth
of keywords climbing, 27d
-0.3
Acceleration
recent half vs earlier
wp.org is where the directory puts the plugin for that search. On merit is where it would sit if results were ranked on rating, support and updates, without the install boost. The last column is how far the wp.org position moved, from our first reading in the last 90 days to the latest.
| Keyword | wp.org | On merit | wp.org move, 90 days |
|---|---|---|---|
| application | #5 | #10 | 0 |
| application form | #11 | #17 | down 2 |
| cv builder | #4 | #2 | 0 |
| applications | #13 | #20 | down 1 |
| job manager applications | #10 | #16 | down 1 |
| jquery comment form validation | #20 | #21 | down 3 |
| wp job manager applications | #16 | #22 | down 1 |
| fancy contact form | #19 | #20 | down 1 |
| contact form your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| custom form your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| form builder your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| payment form your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| wp form your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
68 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 8 listed. 60 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words). 5 of its tags aren't in the top 24 for their own search.
What to do about it
- Swap “contact form”, “custom form” and “form builder” for “application”, “application form” and “applications”. “contact form” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “application” sits at #5 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. “custom form” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “application form” sits at #11 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. “form builder” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “applications” sits at #13 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. All five slots are taken, so one has to go.
Daily downloads
Since 5 Oct 2022 · 1,488 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 6.6K · peaks are release surges
Directory rank vs rivals
wp.org popularity rank over time · higher is better · when a rival's line climbs above yours, they've overtaken you
Rating trend
Star average over time · dips mark rough releases
Health trend
Composite health score, snapshotted daily
Update activity
How busy the existing users are, measured as downloads in the last 30 days for every 1,000 active sites. A spike means a new release everyone's pulling; a long, slow decline means an aging user base that updates less.
Release cadence
Actively maintainedHow often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.
9
releases in the last 12 months
1mo ago
latest release · v2.7.1.1 · 28 Sep 2026
94
tagged releases on record
Recent releases
What its installed base runs
via wordpress.orgShare of active installs on each version of this plugin. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.
Estimated active installs
The public count shows “2K+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Crossed into this band 5 months ago; a band this size takes about a year or more to cross, which places it about 57% of the way through.
Install history since 22 Mar 2016
Reviewer account pattern
from wp.org reviewer profiles13 of the last 20 four- and five-star reviews came from accounts created within a month of posting the review.
Registering a wp.org account just to leave a review is common and often entirely legitimate. The share here is unusually high for the sample, so it's worth keeping in mind while reading the reviews.
Recent reviews
All reviews on wp.org ↗- ★★★★★ DrunkMunki1.3y ago
tried emailing several emails, their contact form, on wordpress site.. no answer bought plugin but fields dont work, data is cleared, very buggy.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ treecutter3.2y ago
Really easy to use, and very fully featured plugin. And it just works ! Thank you to the developer for providing this plugin to the community.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ growbig3.4y ago
After form submission I get the following error: even no support from plugin author An unexpected error occured with error code: 500 error. . Please contact us for more information.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ mlpsapcom4.8y ago
This plugin is crap. We bought this to replace a free plugin that is no longer supported. Tried for days to get this running and looked like something out of the 1990’s. Replaced it with a [another form plugin] and it is responsive and modern. When I went to there site to make sure I did not get charged for another year the site was done. This topic was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by mlpsapcom. Reason: misspelling This topic was modified 4 years, 5 months ago by Steven Stern (sterndata).
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ physalis5.2y ago
My customers bought three of their add-ons for this plugin. And despite them being entitled to support, WP Reloaded only responded once, submitting a bugfix for an add-on we didn’t buy, and after that never got back to my countless e-mails regarding bugs and inconsistencies in this plugin and the add-on plugins as well. If you look for a solid plugin that does work and your business depends on it, better think twice.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ danielle1015875.8y ago
I would give this product 0 stars if I could. Never worked since it was purchased. Was not able to submit applications. When registering, the user is not sent an email. The user needs to reset their password after registering just to access their account. Additionally we paid for the Applicant Tracking Add-On which was never able to be utilized since applications could not be submitted. What a complete waste of time and money!
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ fornaij6.2y ago
Super Lightweight and Nice Plugin with excellent Support. I gave it a 4 out of 5, because of 2 reasons which i think would be fixed in any of the coming updates: 1. There’s a small bug while posting an ad at the back-end, The “Ad Feature” refreshes and discards the ad feature data after editing a published ad post. 2. A Front-end ad submission form would be an excellent feature for community based sites. All round, It’s a great, flexible and useful plugin for a variety of applications.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ tousifkop6.5y ago
Plugin works great.. and support team is also good and fast in replying. Recommended.
Read on wp.org ↗
Latest updates
via wp.org changelogRecent releases and news for this plugin
- — Version 2.7.1.1 Fixed: Archive Ad thumbnail and text alignment. 2.7.1.1
- — Version 2.7.1 New: Name form field in the application form builder. Fixed: PHP Warnings during application form processing & saving. Fixed: Notify Email checkbox restored in application form builder. Fixed: Required attribute for radi 2.7.1
- — Version 2.7 New: Application form builder v2 replacing legacy form builder. Fixed: Application form fieldset styling. Fixed: Application form select field default value to none. Fixed: Separator class & styling added in received app 2.7
- — Version 2.6.8.1 Fixed: Ad author inclusion in Author drop-down on Ad editor screen. Fixed: Application form buttons disabled state moved from id to- class using JS. Fixed: Application form submission alerts formation. 2.6.8.1
- — Version 2.6.8 New: REST API replacing classic WP AJAX. Fixed: Server side check to avoid closed ads form submission. Fixed: WP Warning on front-end “Translation loading for the apply-online domain was triggered too early.” Fixed: In a 2.6.8
- — Version 2.6.7.6 Fixed: Read More button text. New: Custom from email option in settings for outgoing emails. New: Custom name column in applications table in admin panel. 2.6.7.6
Security history
via Wordfence IntelligenceAll 7 disclosed vulnerabilities are patched in the current version (2.7.1.1). Sites still on an older version should update.
- 2024-10-31 CVE-2024-10098 Files or Directories Accessible to External Parties Affects <= 2.6.2 Patched in 2.6.3
- Patched Medium · 6.1 ApplyOnline – Application Form Builder and Manager <= 2.5.5 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting ↗2023-10-12 CVE-2023-45756 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation Affects <= 2.5.5 Patched in 2.5.6
- Patched Medium · 4.4 ApplyOnline – Application Form Builder and Manager <= 2.5.5 - Authenticated (Administrator+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting ↗2023-06-26 CVE-2023-24391 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation Affects <= 2.5.5 Patched in 2.5.6
Vulnerability records provided by Wordfence Intelligence. Copyright 2012-2026 Defiant Inc. License and terms.
CVE records: Copyright 1999-2026 The MITRE Corporation. CVE terms of use.
Behavioral tests
via WP HiveAutomated install-time checks, tested on PHP 8.1.12 · WP 7.0
Languages
via translate.wordpress.orgTranslated into 6 languages, 0 at 90% or more
AI assistants
How it's measured →Whether ChatGPT and Claude name this plugin when asked the category question, and whether the readme gives them something to quote.
Not measured yet for this plugin’s topics. Its tracked searches are not among the measured topics. See the topics measured so far.
Readme readiness
6 of 8 pass · checked 26 Oct 2026Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.
- ! Says what it does Short description names no action; say what the plugin does for the site.
- ✓ Has a FAQ 8 questions in the FAQ.
- ✓ FAQ asks real questions 8 of 8 read like questions a user would type.
- ✓ Names who it is for Names its audience or use cases ("made for", "for developers").
- ✓ Names what it works with Mentions Dropbox.
- ✓ Headings and lists 7 headings and 3 lists.
- ✓ Enough to quote 4,191 characters of description.
- ! Tags match the text Only 1 of 5 tags appear in the text ("contact form", "custom form", "payment form", "wp form" missing).
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2026-05-26 3K+ → 2K+ down after 5 days in tier
- 2026-05-21 2K+ → 3K+ up after 3 days in tier
- 2026-05-18 3K+ → 2K+ down after 493 days in tier
- 2025-01-10 4K+ → 3K+ down after 401 days in tier
- 2023-12-06 5K+ → 4K+ down after 273 days in tier
- 2023-03-08 6K+ → 5K+ down after 908 days in tier
- 2020-09-11 5K+ → 6K+ up after 277 days in tier
- 2019-12-09 1K+ → 5K+ up after 1127 days in tier
Competes with
The plugins that solve the same job, ranked by shared tags then reach, closest match first. The letter on the right is each plugin's health grade (A best, F worst).
-
Formidable Forms – Contact Form, Survey, Quiz, Payment, Calculator Form & Custom Form Builder 300K+ installs · 4.8★ · 4 shared tags A -
Custom Form Builder, Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Surveys, Polls 900+ installs · 4.6★ · 4 shared tags C -
WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ installs · 4.8★ · 3 shared tags A -
Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ installs · 4.8★ · 3 shared tags A -
Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ installs · 4.8★ · 3 shared tags A -
SureForms – Contact Form Builder, AI Forms, Payment Form, Survey & Quiz 500K+ installs · 4.7★ · 3 shared tags A
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for ApplyOnline – Application Form Builder and Manager into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/apply-online" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="ApplyOnline – Application Form Builder and Manager — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> ApplyOnline – Application Form Builder and Manager: 2K+ active installs, 4.1★ (40 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-10-31. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/apply-online
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