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

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 “referral”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 4 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

RewardsWP – Loyalty Points & Referral Program for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #9 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links places #8 on merit, 4.8★ from 1322 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP Statistics – Simple, privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative 500K+ · 4.1★ (759) wp.org #1 ↑4 2 Loyalty Points Rewards and Referral for WooCommerce – WPLoyalty 3K+ · 5.0★ (310) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 Gratisfaction- Loyalty, Rewards , Referral, Birthday and Giveaway Program 600+ · 4.8★ (205) wp.org #3 4 ReferralCandy for WooCommerce – Advanced Referral & Affiliate Program 300+ · 4.9★ (211) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too low 5 Points and Rewards for WooCommerce – Create Loyalty Programs, Reward Customer Purchases, Referral Points, User Badges, and Gamification 6K+ · 4.5★ (180) wp.org #4 ↑15 1 too high 6 Coupon Affiliates – Affiliate Plugin for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.9★ (77) wp.org #7 ↓3 1 too low 7 Points Management System For Gamification, Ranks, Badges, and Loyalty Rewards Program – myCred 10K+ · 4.6★ (472) wp.org #12 ↓10 5 too low 8 PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links 200K+ · 4.8★ (1322) wp.org #20 ↑2 12 too low 9 Wallet System for WooCommerce – Digital Wallet, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), Instant Cashback, Referral program, Partial & Subscription Payments 1K+ · 4.9★ (65) wp.org #8 ↑2 1 too high 10 Email Marketing for WooCommerce by Omnisend 40K+ · 4.9★ (169) wp.org #22 12 too low 11 MonsterInsights – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Made Easy) 2M+ · 4.5★ (3157) wp.org #16 ↓6 5 too low 12 Affiliates for WooCommerce – Affiliate Program, Referral Tracking & Commission Payouts 300+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #6 ↑1 6 too high 13 Affiliates Manager 8K+ · 4.1★ (61) wp.org #17 ↓1 4 too low 14 Social Boost: Giveaways, Instant win and Contests. Grow followers, shares, subscribers, traffic, referrals, sales and more 100+ · 5.0★ (25) wp.org #19 5 too low 15 Scratch & Win – Giveaways and Contests. Boost subscribers, traffic, repeat visits, referrals, sales and more 100+ · 4.7★ (30) wp.org #21 ↓7 6 too low 16 Beehive Analytics – Google Analytics Dashboard 20K+ · 4.5★ (13) wp.org #14 ↑1 2 too high 17 Known Agents – Track AI Bots and Crawlers, Block Scrapers, Analyze LLM Referral Traffic 1K+ · 4.8★ (6) wp.org #11 ↑2 6 too high 18 Dynamic Visibility for Elementor 50K+ · 4.6★ (89) wp.org #24 ↓1 6 too low 19 Google Analytics for WooCommerce 100K+ · 2.8★ (119) wp.org #15 ↓8 4 too high 20 RewardsWP – Loyalty Points & Referral Program for WooCommerce 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #9 ↑2 11 too high 21 Partnero – Affiliate & Referral Program Management for WordPress 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 ↑2 11 too high 22 Sawir Referral – Refer a Friend for WooCommerce 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 ↑11 9 too high 23 A AffiliateWP – Leaderboard 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 24 A AffiliateWP – External Referral Links 700+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #18 ↓1 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.