Recurring PayPal Donations

How well this listing is tuned to rank in WordPress.org search, on the factors an owner controls. Not popularity, optimization.

Directory searches this plugin turns up in, and which way each one is moving. WordPress.org publishes no history of search positions, so this starts the day we first tracked a keyword and never backfills.

wp.org is where the directory puts the plugin for that search. On merit is where it would sit if results were ranked on rating, support and updates, without the install boost. The last column is how far the wp.org position moved, from our first reading in the last 90 days to the latest.

9 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 7 listed. 2 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words). 4 of its tags aren't in the top 24 for their own search.

Directory rank vs rivals

wp.org popularity rank over time · higher is better · when a rival's line climbs above yours, they've overtaken you

How often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.

Share of active installs on each version of this plugin · 75% run the current release. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.

Crossed into this band 6 months ago; a band this size takes about a year or more to cross, which places it about 50% of the way through.

1. ★★★★★ tamarinera

   7.7y ago

   This looks super, because I haven’t found another way to do recurring donations with Paypal. Business accounts need to sign up for Enhanced Recurring Payments in Paypal that costs $20 monthly. Not worth it for a tiny non-profit. So thank you for creating this plugin! For those who are interested: it’s basic: you have to cut and paste their code into your page, and then edit that code to change parameters (such as amounts, etc). But it makes a two-pronged form that gets the job done. Except… The problem I’ve found is that with the recurring donation, once I click to donate and am taken to Paypal, I can’t use the back button to get back to my site. So it’s a one way trip away from my site, and if someone clicks it by accident, they’ll never get back. The one-time donation button does not appear to have this problem. The other issue with this, is that they can’t change the amount of the donation once they’ve clicked through to PayPal. The amount is fixed by the plugin, and PayPal only has options to change the payment method, not the amount. COULD YOU PLEASE FIX THIS BUG? PRETTY PLEASE? This topic was modified 7 years, 4 months ago by tamarinera.

   Read on wp.org ↗
2. ★★★★★ barrygen

   8.3y ago

   I have had no trouble with this plugin. It is working fine.

   Read on wp.org ↗
3. ★★★★★ Torchy

   8.8y ago

   It works but it is $$$’s only and I would like to see it in other currencies (at least major currencies) Also, it is fixed to three parameters, no less no more.

   Read on wp.org ↗
4. ★★★★★ yurone

   8.9y ago

   ok plugin, does what it says but can be a bit better 0. it looks like reccurent payements not possible for “non pro” paypal accounts This feature is only available to Business and Premier Accounts. please add this info in the plugin description so people don’t loose time. 1. on monthly reccurrent payements we ca see (p/m) i imagine this means per month, however i think that this is not clear for everyone. can be 2. on “DONATE ONCE ONLY” interface there is no information of selected “currency” that is confusing for people. DESIRED FEATURES 3. shortcode to select donation currency would be cool, at least some basic once : US, EU, GB 4. a redirect to a thank you page This topic was modified 8 years, 7 months ago by yurone. This topic was modified 8 years, 7 months ago by yurone.

   Read on wp.org ↗
5. ★★★★★ copyjosh

   9.2y ago

   This is a great, still functional plugin that I used for a website that needed something close to the functionality provided. I added the modifications unique to their situation, but out of the box this worked great.

   Read on wp.org ↗
6. ★★★★★ astaara

   9.7y ago

   This is super easy to use and does exactly what it promises. People can choose how much to donate either for one payment or recurring payments. Highly recommend.

   Read on wp.org ↗
7. ★★★★★ peterbreen

   9.9y ago

   Paypal changes something in how they process form submissions about two months ago. I was working on a similar plugin called Custom Donations. I was experiencing a problem where Paypal would say that the link was bad. I was looking to see how this plugin handled that problem and found that it was also broken.

   Read on wp.org ↗
8. ★★★★★ maalik1

   11.2y ago

   Quite cool app, perfectly working for me so far.

   Read on wp.org ↗

All 2 disclosed vulnerabilities are patched in the current version (1.9). Sites still on an older version should update.

1. Patched Medium · 4.4 Recurring PayPal Donations <= 1.8 - Authenticated (Administrator+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting ↗
   2025-08-22 CVE-2025-57891 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation Affects <= 1.8 Patched in 1.9
2. Patched Medium · 6.4 Recurring PayPal Donations <= 1.7 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting via Shortcode ↗
   2024-06-05 CVE-2024-35676 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation Affects <= 1.7 Patched in 1.8

Automated install-time checks, tested on PHP 8.1.12 · WP 6.8.2

Whether ChatGPT and Claude name this plugin when asked the category question, and whether the readme gives them something to quote.

Not measured yet for this plugin’s topics. Its tracked searches are not among the measured topics. See the topics measured so far.

Growth timeline

Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow

1. 2026-04-27 900+ → 800+ down after 5 days in tier
2. 2026-04-22 800+ → 900+ up after 1 days in tier
3. 2026-04-21 900+ → 800+ down after 13 days in tier
4. 2026-04-08 800+ → 900+ up after 3 days in tier
5. 2026-04-05 900+ → 800+ down after 164 days in tier
6. 2025-10-23 1K+ → 900+ down after 2240 days in tier
7. 2019-09-05 300+ → 1K+ up after 1281 days in tier
8. 2016-03-03 20+ → 300+ up

Competes with

The plugins that solve the same job, ranked by shared tags then reach, closest match first. The letter on the right is each plugin's health grade (A best, F worst).

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Drop a live Pulse card for Recurring PayPal Donations into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.

Recurring PayPal Donations: 800+ active installs, 3.4★ (10 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-10-31. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/recurring-donation