Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “charitable giving”

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 “charitable giving”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 2 of the top 15.

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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 100K+ · 4.6★ (708) wp.org #1 2 AutomatorWP – No-Code Workflow Automation, Integration & Webhooks Plugin, now with AI 6K+ · 4.8★ (202) wp.org #5 3 too low 3 Product Tabs for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.7★ (69) wp.org #3 4 Zeffy Donate Button 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #4 5 SureDonation – Donation Forms, Fundraising Campaigns & Donor Management 4K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #2 3 too high 6 Mission – Donation Plugin for WordPress – Fundraising & Recurring Donations 70+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 CustomDonations – Donation, Membership, and Fundraising Forms with Stripe, PayPal and DAF Pay 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 Donation or Tip For WooCommerce 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #10 ↓1 2 too low 9 Click & Pledge CONNECT 200+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 1 too high 10 Donatico – Stripe Donations & Recurring Giving — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 ↓1 1 too low 11 Donor Merchant – Donation Form with Recurring Donations, Stripe and PayPal 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 ↑3 2 too high 12 Click & Pledge Plugin for WooCommerce 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↓1 13 Click & Pledge – Paid Memberships Pro 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 14 Audit Charitable Donations Plugin 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 1 too low 15 Growfund – Ultimate Donation & Crowdfunding Solution 100+ · 1.0★ (1) wp.org #14 1 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.