wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “accepted payment methods”
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 “accepted payment methods”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20.
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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.
Ranked above its merit
Payment Gateway for PhonePe and for Woocommerce shows at wp.org #5 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 800+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
Bit Form – Contact Form, Payment Forms, Multi Step Forms, Calculator & Custom Form Builder places #11 on merit, 5.0★ from 259 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144)
wp.org #2 1 too low 2 
Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221)
wp.org #6 4 too low 3 
Payment Gateway for PayPal on WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.4★ (73)
wp.org #3 4 
Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807)
wp.org #9 5 too low 5 
Calculated Fields Form – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact, Payment, Quote, Quiz & More 40K+ · 4.9★ (973)
wp.org #14 9 too low 6 
Accepted Payment Methods 100+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews
wp.org #1 5 too high 7 
Paymattic – Secure, Simple Payment & Donation with Subscription Payments, Recurring Donations, Customer Management 3K+ · 4.8★ (44)
wp.org #7 8 
Payment Gateway Based Fees and Discounts for WooCommerce 30K+ · 4.7★ (58)
wp.org #8 9 
SureCart – Ecommerce Made Easy For Selling Physical Products, Digital Downloads, Subscriptions, Donations, & Payments 80K+ · 4.8★ (289)
wp.org #17 8 too low 10 
Fluid Checkout for WooCommerce – Lite 20K+ · 4.9★ (159)
wp.org #18 8 too low 11 Bit Form – Contact Form, Payment Forms, Multi Step Forms, Calculator & Custom Form Builder 10K+ · 5.0★ (259)
wp.org #22 11 too low 12 
GF Mollie by Indigo 900+ · 4.9★ (21) thin reviews
wp.org #10 2 too high 13 
Stripe Payment Forms by WP Simple Pay – Accept Credit Card Payments + Subscriptions with Stripe 8K+ · 4.4★ (117)
wp.org #15 2 too low 14 
Paytium: Mollie payment forms & donations 2K+ · 4.5★ (64)
wp.org #16 2 too low 15 
Event Booking Manager for WooCommerce – Sell Tickets, Event Registration, RSVP & Event Calendar 7K+ · 4.5★ (167)
wp.org #21 6 too low 16 
Paystack WooCommerce Payment Gateway 20K+ · 4.5★ (25)
wp.org #13 3 too high 17 
Payment Gateway for Authorize.net for WooCommerce 800+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews
wp.org #4 13 too high 18 
Online Payments with iK Pay Gateway 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) thin reviews
wp.org #11 7 too high 19 
CryptAPI Payment Gateway for WooCommerce 400+ · 3.7★ (9) thin reviews
wp.org #19 20 
Rede Itaú for WooCommerce — Payment PIX, Credit Card and Debit 1K+ · 4.3★ (9) thin reviews
wp.org #24 4 too low 21 Payment Gateway for PhonePe and for Woocommerce 800+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews
wp.org #5 16 too high 22 
CIELO API PIX, credit card, debit payment for WooCommerce 600+ · 4.2★ (5) thin reviews
wp.org #20 2 too high 23 
Nomod for WooCommerce 400+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews
wp.org #23 24 
Flutterwave Payments 600+ · 3.5★ (2) thin reviews
wp.org #12 12 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.