Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “job”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

VK Google Job Posting Manager shows at wp.org #9 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 7520 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP Job Manager 70K+ · 4.4★ (237) wp.org #1 2 HireZoot – Job Listings, Career Page & Recruitment Tool 30K+ · 4.8★ (194) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too low 3 Simple Job Board 10K+ · 4.7★ (133) wp.org #2 ↑1 1 too high 4 Job Postings 10K+ · 4.4★ (58) wp.org #4 5 Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 WP Job Portal – AI-Powered Recruitment System for Company or Job Board website 8K+ · 4.3★ (32) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7520) wp.org #22 ↑1 15 too low 8 GeoDirectory – WP Business Directory Plugin and Classified Listings Directory 10K+ · 4.8★ (716) wp.org #18 10 too low 9 easy.jobs – AI powered Job Listing, Job Board, Career Page, Recruitment & Hiring Solution 4K+ · 4.7★ (26) wp.org #10 1 too low 10 JobWP – Job Board Plugin for WordPress | Job Listings, Career Page & Applications 1K+ · 5.0★ (20) wp.org #11 ↑2 1 too low 11 Directorist: AI-Powered Business Directory, Listings & Classified Ads 20K+ · 4.6★ (698) wp.org #23 ↑1 12 too low 12 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #20 ↑2 8 too low 13 Go Fetch Jobs (for WP Job Manager) 600+ · 4.5★ (28) wp.org #12 ↑3 1 too high 14 Job Manager & Career – Manage job board listings, and recruitments 1K+ · 4.7★ (7) wp.org #6 8 too high 15 JobBoardWP – Job Board Listings and Submissions 900+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #14 ↓2 1 too high 16 M MAS Companies For WP Job Manager 1K+ · 4.9★ (8) wp.org #13 ↓2 3 too high 17 WP All Import – Job Listing Import for WP Job Manager 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #7 10 too high 18 Regions for WP Job Manager 7K+ · 3.0★ (10) wp.org #16 2 too high 19 Cron Jobs 2K+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #17 2 too high 20 Custom Field For WP Job Manager 800+ · 3.4★ (5) wp.org #15 ↓1 5 too high 21 VK Google Job Posting Manager 2K+ · 4.0★ (2) wp.org #9 12 too high 22 WP All Import – Job Listing Import for Jobify 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↓1 1 too high 23 Jobus – Job Board, Recruitment & Hiring Platform 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 WP Job Manager Filter Widget 200+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #19 5 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.