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

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 “recruit”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 of the top 20. 2 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

Impact: Partnership Cloud shows at wp.org #6 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 2.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP Job Portal – AI-Powered Recruitment System for Company or Job Board website 8K+ · 4.3★ (32) wp.org #1 2 Affiliate Program Suite — SliceWP Affiliates 10K+ · 4.9★ (111) wp.org #2 3 ReferralCandy for WooCommerce – Advanced Referral & Affiliate Program 300+ · 4.9★ (211) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 Wholesale Suite – B2B, Dynamic Pricing & WooCommerce Wholesale Prices 20K+ · 4.8★ (546) wp.org #4 5 Bit Form – Contact Form, Payment Forms, Multi Step Forms, Calculator & Custom Form Builder 10K+ · 5.0★ (259) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 easy.jobs – AI powered Job Listing, Job Board, Career Page, Recruitment & Hiring Solution 4K+ · 4.7★ (26) wp.org #3 3 too high 7 Bit integrations – Form Integration, Webhook, Spreadsheets, CRM, LMS & Email Automation 20K+ · 4.9★ (160) wp.org #9 2 too low 8 Advanced Form Integration — Connect Forms to 300+ Apps 9K+ · 4.8★ (91) wp.org #10 2 too low 9 EventAdmin – Volunteer Management 50+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #14 5 too low 10 Affiracle Affiliate Marketing 40+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #8 2 too high 11 Zoho Forms – Drag & Drop Form Builder for Websites – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Order Forms & More 10K+ · 2.7★ (14) wp.org #11 12 Binary MLM For WooCommerce 10+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #18 6 too low 13 Rekomi: Affiliate Marketing and Referral Programs for WooCommerce — · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #19 6 too low 14 R Recruit So Simple Jobs — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 2 too high 15 CMAA Recruit — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 2 too high 16 Impact: Partnership Cloud 300+ · 2.0★ (4) wp.org #6 10 too high 17 Binary MLM Plan 10+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #15 ↑1 2 too high 18 Job Board Manager – Recruit & Hire — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 2 too low 19 Permate Connect 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 ↓1 3 too high 20 BMA Lite – Appointment Booking and Scheduling 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 2 too low 21 ARC — Advance Review Copy — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 2 too low 22 CreatesWowTech Affiliate Program for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 Affiliate Contact Form 7 Integration For WooCommerce 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 6 too high 24 Grow by Tradedoubler – Advertiser Plugin for WooCommerce 100+ · 3.0★ (1) wp.org #21 3 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.