Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “referrals”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 3 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 #10 but places #21 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 #17. 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 ↑3 2 Loyalty Points Rewards and Referral for WooCommerce – WPLoyalty 3K+ · 5.0★ (310) wp.org #2 3 Coupon Affiliates – Affiliate Plugin for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.9★ (77) wp.org #3 4 ReferralCandy for WooCommerce – Advanced Referral & Affiliate Program 300+ · 4.9★ (211) wp.org #6 ↑1 2 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 ↑12 1 too high 6 Points Management System For Gamification, Ranks, Badges, and Loyalty Rewards Program – myCred 10K+ · 4.6★ (472) wp.org #8 ↓7 2 too low 7 Gratisfaction- Loyalty, Rewards , Referral, Birthday and Giveaway Program 600+ · 4.8★ (205) wp.org #7 ↑2 8 PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links 200K+ · 4.8★ (1322) wp.org #17 ↑3 9 too low 9 MonsterInsights – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Made Easy) 2M+ · 4.5★ (3156) wp.org #12 ↓6 3 too low 10 Email Marketing for WooCommerce by Omnisend 40K+ · 4.9★ (169) wp.org #19 9 too low 11 Wallet System for WooCommerce – Digital Wallet, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), Instant Cashback, Referral program, Partial & Subscription Payments 1K+ · 4.9★ (65) wp.org #11 ↑2 12 Affiliates for WooCommerce – Affiliate Program, Referral Tracking & Commission Payouts 300+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #5 ↑3 7 too high 13 Affiliates Manager 8K+ · 4.1★ (61) wp.org #14 ↓2 1 too low 14 Beehive Analytics – Google Analytics Dashboard 20K+ · 4.5★ (13) wp.org #9 ↑2 5 too high 15 Social Boost: Giveaways, Instant win and Contests. Grow followers, shares, subscribers, traffic, referrals, sales and more 100+ · 5.0★ (25) wp.org #15 16 Scratch & Win – Giveaways and Contests. Boost subscribers, traffic, repeat visits, referrals, sales and more 100+ · 4.7★ (30) wp.org #16 ↓6 17 Dynamic Visibility for Elementor 50K+ · 4.6★ (89) wp.org #20 ↑1 3 too low 18 Google Analytics for WooCommerce 100K+ · 2.8★ (119) wp.org #13 ↓8 5 too high 19 Known Agents – Track AI Bots and Crawlers, Block Scrapers, Analyze LLM Referral Traffic 1K+ · 4.8★ (6) wp.org #23 ↑1 4 too low 20 YITH WooCommerce Affiliates 6K+ · 4.2★ (19) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 RewardsWP – Loyalty Points & Referral Program for WooCommerce 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #10 ↑8 11 too high 22 Partnero – Affiliate & Referral Program Management for WordPress 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 ↑1 4 too high 23 A AffiliateWP – Leaderboard 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 2 too high 24 A AffiliateWP Checkout Referrals 500+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #22 ↓5 2 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.