wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “direct 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 “direct payment”, 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
Direct Payments WP – Receive Payments with Forms shows at wp.org #12 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 50+ 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
Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 808 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. 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 
WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway 700K+ · 3.1★ (237) low rating, top placement
wp.org #1 1 too high 3 
UPI QR Code Payment Gateway for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.8★ (256)
wp.org #7 4 too low 4 
WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (584) low rating, top placement
wp.org #3 1 too high 5 
Easy Digital Downloads – eCommerce Payments and Subscriptions made easy 40K+ · 4.7★ (592)
wp.org #9 4 too low 6 
Payment Gateway for PayPal on WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.4★ (73)
wp.org #6 7 
Paid Membership Subscriptions – Effortless Memberships, Recurring Payments & Content Restriction 10K+ · 4.7★ (270)
wp.org #10 3 too low 8 
FunnelKit Payment Gateway for Stripe WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.9★ (53)
wp.org #8 9 
WooPayments: Integrated WooCommerce Payments 800K+ · 3.4★ (177) low rating, top placement
wp.org #5 4 too high 10 
Direct Payments for WooCommerce – Bank Transfer, Mobile Money, Crypto and Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Payments 800+ · 5.0★ (10) thin reviews
wp.org #4 6 too high 11 Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (808)
wp.org #18 ↓1 7 too low 12 
Pay for Payment for WooCommerce – Payment Gateway Fees & Discounts 10K+ · 4.7★ (71)
wp.org #14 2 too low 13 
Payment Gateway of Stripe for WooCommerce 7K+ · 4.4★ (66)
wp.org #13 14 
PiWeb Disable payment method / Partial payment for WooCommerce 4K+ · 5.0★ (38)
wp.org #19 5 too low 15 
Payment Gateway Based Fees and Discounts for WooCommerce 30K+ · 4.7★ (58)
wp.org #22 7 too low 16 
Stripe Payment Forms by WP Simple Pay – Accept Credit Card Payments + Subscriptions with Stripe 8K+ · 4.4★ (117)
wp.org #24 8 too low 17 
Paymattic – Secure, Simple Payment & Donation with Subscription Payments, Recurring Donations, Customer Management 3K+ · 4.8★ (44)
wp.org #21 4 too low 18 
Mollie Payments for WooCommerce 100K+ · 3.6★ (69)
wp.org #17 ↑1 1 too high 19 
Place Order Without Payment for WooCommerce 3K+ · 4.8★ (20) thin reviews
wp.org #20 1 too low 20 
Better Payment – Instant Payments, Donations, Fundraising with Subscriptions & More 5K+ · 4.6★ (14) thin reviews
wp.org #15 5 too high 21 
Eway Payment Gateway 800+ · 4.3★ (15) thin reviews
wp.org #16 5 too high 22 
Direct Invoices – Invoicing & Payment Requests for WordPress 200+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews
wp.org #11 11 too high 23 
Payment Gateways by User Roles for WooCommerce 2K+ · 5.0★ (4) thin reviews
wp.org #23 24 Direct Payments WP – Receive Payments with Forms 50+ · 5.0★ (1) 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.