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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “deferred payment”

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 “deferred payment”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

ComfinoPay Payment Gateway shows at wp.org #7 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 300+ 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

Pronamic Pay places #8 on merit, 4.8★ from 84 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Easy Digital Downloads – eCommerce Payments and Subscriptions made easy 40K+ · 4.7★ (591) wp.org #1 2 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 Calculated Fields Form – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact, Payment, Quote, Quiz & More 40K+ · 4.9★ (973) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 FunnelKit Payment Gateway for Stripe WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.9★ (53) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too high 5 Stripe Payment Forms by WP Simple Pay – Accept Credit Card Payments + Subscriptions with Stripe 8K+ · 4.4★ (117) wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too low 6 NitroPack – Performance, Page Speed & Cache Plugin for Core Web Vitals, CDN & Image Optimization 80K+ · 4.3★ (311) wp.org #10 4 too low 7 FAZ Cookie Manager 3K+ · 5.0★ (30) wp.org #11 ↓2 4 too low 8 Pronamic Pay 2K+ · 4.8★ (84) wp.org #16 ↓1 8 too low 9 Shipping Live Rates for FedEx for WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.4★ (27) wp.org #18 ↓1 9 too low 10 aBlocks – Gutenberg Blocks, User Dashboard Builder, Popup Builder, Form Builder & Animation Builder 2K+ · 5.0★ (26) wp.org #24 ↓1 14 too low 11 Web3 Crypto Payments by DePay for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.0★ (12) wp.org #12 ↓1 1 too low 12 Klarna for WooCommerce 20K+ · 2.3★ (20) wp.org #5 ↓1 7 too high 13 Blacklist Manager – WooCommerce Anti-Fraud, Blacklist & Checkout Verification 2K+ · 3.6★ (14) wp.org #17 ↓1 4 too low 14 Flexible Subscriptions 1K+ · 4.6★ (9) wp.org #14 ↓1 15 Nexi XPay 7K+ · 3.0★ (7) wp.org #8 ↓1 7 too high 16 Alma – Pay in installments or later for WooCommerce 1K+ · 3.7★ (6) wp.org #9 ↓1 7 too high 17 Japanized for WooCommerce 10K+ · 3.3★ (21) wp.org #21 ↓3 4 too low 18 ComfinoPay Payment Gateway 300+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 ↓1 11 too high 19 EqualWeb Accessibility 4K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #19 20 Autopay 3K+ · 2.1★ (7) wp.org #13 ↓1 7 too high 21 Melu Live Chat 80+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 ↓1 6 too high 22 Deposits & Partial Payments for WooCommerce – Deposet 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 2 too high 23 COD & Advance Payment for WooCommerce 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 ↓1 1 too high 24 Fabrick Payment Orchestra 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 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.