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

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 “employer”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

Jobus – Job Board, Recruitment & Hiring Platform shows at wp.org #7 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

LifterLMS – WP LMS for eLearning, Online Courses, & Quizzes places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 393 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #1 2 WP Job Manager 70K+ · 4.4★ (237) wp.org #2 3 WP Job Portal – AI-Powered Recruitment System for Company or Job Board website 8K+ · 4.3★ (32) wp.org #3 4 H HTTP 410 (Gone) responses 4K+ · 4.6★ (21) wp.org #4 5 Donorbox – Free Recurring Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 8K+ · 4.8★ (34) wp.org #5 6 Classified Listing – AI-Powered Classified ads & Business Directory 9K+ · 4.8★ (138) wp.org #10 4 too low 7 LifterLMS – WP LMS for eLearning, Online Courses, & Quizzes 10K+ · 4.8★ (393) wp.org #17 ↓1 10 too low 8 JobBoardWP – Job Board Listings and Submissions 900+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #6 2 too high 9 Simple Job Board 10K+ · 4.7★ (133) wp.org #15 ↓1 6 too low 10 M MAS Companies For WP Job Manager 1K+ · 4.9★ (8) wp.org #8 2 too high 11 Wbcom Designs – Shortcodes & Elementor Widgets For BuddyPress 600+ · 4.6★ (10) wp.org #9 2 too high 12 easy.jobs – AI powered Job Listing, Job Board, Career Page, Recruitment & Hiring Solution 4K+ · 4.7★ (26) wp.org #16 ↓1 4 too low 13 Job Manager & Career – Manage job board listings, and recruitments 1K+ · 4.7★ (7) wp.org #11 2 too high 14 Wbcom Designs – BuddyPress Member Reviews 200+ · 4.7★ (18) wp.org #23 ↓4 9 too low 15 JobBoard Job listing plugin 80+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #22 ↓4 7 too low 16 JS Job Manager 100+ · 3.6★ (28) wp.org #24 ↓1 8 too low 17 RankReady – AI SEO, Schema, llms.txt, AEO and GEO for ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity 500+ · 4.8★ (5) wp.org #14 ↓2 3 too high 18 Jobus – Job Board, Recruitment & Hiring Platform 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 11 too high 19 Business Card Block – present your team and contact info in style 1K+ · 4.3★ (4) wp.org #21 ↓1 2 too low 20 Academic Certificate Verification – Certificate Management & Certificate Validator 70+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #19 ↑2 1 too high 21 Edutain Certificate Validator – Certificate Verification, QR Code & Digital Credentials 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #20 ↑2 1 too high 22 Repeater Fields for Elementor Forms 700+ · 4.0★ (3) wp.org #12 ↑1 10 too high 23 WP CV Builder 30+ · 4.0★ (3) wp.org #13 ↑4 10 too high 24 Donor Merchant – Donation Form with Recurring Donations, Stripe and PayPal 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 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.