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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “partner program”

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

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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

MSN Partner Hub shows at wp.org #11 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 2.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Pixel Manager for WooCommerce – Conversion Tracking, Google Ads, GA4, TikTok, Dynamic Remarketing places #6 on merit, 4.9★ from 399 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 Affiliate Program Suite — SliceWP Affiliates 10K+ · 4.9★ (111) wp.org #1 2 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #2 ↑2 3 Cookiebot – Cookie Banner & Cookie Consent for GDPR, CCPA & Google Consent Mode 100K+ · 4.4★ (440) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Easy Digital Downloads – eCommerce Payments and Subscriptions made easy 40K+ · 4.7★ (591) wp.org #7 ↓1 3 too low 5 ReferralCandy for WooCommerce – Advanced Referral & Affiliate Program 300+ · 4.9★ (211) wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too low 6 Pixel Manager for WooCommerce – Conversion Tracking, Google Ads, GA4, TikTok, Dynamic Remarketing 40K+ · 4.9★ (399) wp.org #17 ↑2 11 too low 7 FluentAffiliate – Affiliate Program Management Suite, Affiliates Manager 2K+ · 4.6★ (7) wp.org #3 4 too high 8 Siren Affiliates – Affiliate & Partner Program Manager for WooCommerce 10+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #5 ↓3 3 too high 9 Accessibility by AllAccessible 2K+ · 5.0★ (15) wp.org #8 ↓1 1 too high 10 LiveChat – Live Chat Plugin for WP Websites 10K+ · 4.6★ (98) wp.org #16 ↑2 6 too low 11 Online Booking & Scheduling Calendar by vcita 1K+ · 3.9★ (117) wp.org #14 3 too low 12 Affiliates 2K+ · 4.5★ (137) wp.org #19 ↓2 7 too low 13 Advanced Coupons for WooCommerce – BOGO, Store Credit & WooCommerce Coupons 20K+ · 4.4★ (184) wp.org #24 ↓2 11 too low 14 Stripe Payment Forms by WP Simple Pay – Accept Credit Card Payments + Subscriptions with Stripe 8K+ · 4.4★ (117) wp.org #21 ↑2 7 too low 15 Goaffpro Affiliate Marketing 4K+ · 4.8★ (44) wp.org #20 5 too low 16 Live Chat Plugin for WooCommerce – LiveChat 900+ · 4.5★ (22) wp.org #22 ↓1 6 too low 17 Milo Subscriptions – Subscriptions for WooCommerce and Recurring Payments 200+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #23 ↑1 6 too low 18 Affiliates WooCommerce Light 1K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #18 ↓2 19 ScanCircle 50+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #12 ↓2 7 too high 20 RewardsWP – Loyalty Points & Referral Program for WooCommerce 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #9 ↓1 11 too high 21 Hotelipp 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #10 ↑3 11 too high 22 BotPenguin – Generative AI Chatbot with Live Chat & ChatGPT 600+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 7 too high 23 Partnero – Affiliate & Referral Program Management for WordPress 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 ↓1 10 too high 24 MSN Partner Hub 1K+ · 2.0★ (2) wp.org #11 13 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.