Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “carding”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 3 of the top 18. 2 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

SaferCheckout Lite – Fraud prevention for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #6 but places #10 on merit, a gap of 4 places. Its 10+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Payment Plugins for PayPal WooCommerce places #4 on merit, 4.8★ from 127 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Hide Cart Functions 3K+ · 4.6★ (14) wp.org #1 2 Store Vacation Lite for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.6★ (189) wp.org #2 3 P Payment Gateway for PayPal Pro on WooCommerce 90+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #3 4 Payment Plugins for PayPal WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (127) wp.org #14 ↑1 10 too low 5 Anti-Carding & Bot Shield for WooCommerce (Stop Card Testing Attacks) — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Atomic Edge Security – Firewall, Malware Scan and Login Security 700+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #16 10 too low 7 IronPhantom Fraud Defense 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #5 2 too high 8 Carticy SiteVitals – Security, Speed, Performance & Database Optimization — · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #8 9 Basiru Checkout Fraud Guard for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 2 too high 10 SaferCheckout Lite – Fraud prevention for WooCommerce 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #6 ↓1 4 too high 11 ddosNull Shield — DDoS & Bot Protection — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 2 too high 12 SentinelGuard — Fraud & Checkout Protection for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 2 too high 13 Carthound – Stop Card Testing & Fake Orders — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 ↑1 2 too high 14 Kortech Shieldora — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↓1 2 too high 15 QWeb Spam Shield — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 2 too high 16 WebDecoy Bot Detection – Block AI Crawlers, Spam Bots & Card Testing — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 ↓1 1 too high 17 Merchant Brain Checkout Monitor — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 18 VerifiedVisitors — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 ↓1

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.