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

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 “refer”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 5 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

EchoRewards – Refer a Friend Rewards Program for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #6 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.9★ average from 8 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 2433 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #1 2 Refer A Friend for WooCommerce by WPGens 1K+ · 4.9★ (39) wp.org #2 3 Docket Cache – Object Cache Accelerator 20K+ · 4.9★ (50) wp.org #4 ↑5 1 too low 4 XML Sitemap Generator for Google 1M+ · 4.8★ (2233) wp.org #7 ↑1 3 too low 5 Flamingo 800K+ · 4.2★ (121) wp.org #3 2 too high 6 WP 2FA – Two-factor authentication for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (184) wp.org #8 ↑2 2 too low 7 WP Popular Posts 100K+ · 4.5★ (249) wp.org #9 ↓4 2 too low 8 WP Activity Log 300K+ · 4.7★ (490) wp.org #12 ↓5 4 too low 9 Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528) wp.org #14 ↑2 5 too low 10 Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads 300K+ · 4.9★ (2433) wp.org #18 8 too low 11 One Click Demo Import 1M+ · 4.3★ (79) wp.org #5 ↓1 6 too high 12 Loyalty Points Rewards and Referral for WooCommerce – WPLoyalty 3K+ · 5.0★ (310) wp.org #10 ↑1 2 too high 13 ReferralCandy for WooCommerce – Advanced Referral & Affiliate Program 300+ · 4.9★ (211) wp.org #16 ↓1 3 too low 14 Photonic Gallery & Lightbox for Flickr, SmugMug & Others 10K+ · 4.8★ (193) wp.org #17 ↑6 3 too low 15 Zero Spam for WordPress 20K+ · 4.1★ (143) wp.org #13 ↑4 2 too high 16 WP Accessibility Helper (WAH) 10K+ · 4.7★ (57) wp.org #22 ↑2 6 too low 17 EchoRewards – Refer a Friend Rewards Program for WooCommerce 300+ · 3.9★ (8) wp.org #6 11 too high 18 View Transitions 10K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too low 19 Core Rollback 20K+ · 4.7★ (16) wp.org #23 ↓9 4 too low 20 Custom Adobe Fonts (Typekit) 60K+ · 4.4★ (8) wp.org #15 ↓2 5 too high 21 Aruba HiSpeed Cache 100K+ · 3.0★ (10) wp.org #11 ↑1 10 too high 22 Optimization Detective 60K+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #20 2 too high 23 Sawir Referral – Refer a Friend for WooCommerce 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↓2 2 too high 24 Image Prioritizer 40K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24

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.