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

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 “donate”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 of the top 20. 4 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

Ko-fi Button shows at wp.org #5 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 5K+ 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

Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads places #3 on merit, 4.9★ from 2433 reviews, but shows at wp.org #10. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 100K+ · 4.6★ (708) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Charitable – Donation & Fundraising Platform (Donation Forms, Recurring Donations & Fundraising Campaigns) 10K+ · 4.9★ (219) wp.org #4 ↓1 2 too low 3 Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads 300K+ · 4.9★ (2433) wp.org #10 ↑8 7 too low 4 WhyDonate – FREE Donate button – Crowdfunding – Fundraising 800+ · 4.8★ (43) wp.org #3 ↑4 1 too high 5 Zeffy Donate Button 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #1 4 too high 6 reCAPTCHA for WooCommerce 40K+ · 4.6★ (76) wp.org #9 ↑1 3 too low 7 Connect Matomo – Analytics Dashboard for WordPress 60K+ · 4.5★ (95) wp.org #8 ↑1 1 too low 8 Say What? 40K+ · 4.3★ (92) wp.org #13 ↓2 5 too low 9 Donorbox – Free Recurring Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 8K+ · 4.8★ (34) wp.org #11 2 too low 10 Page scroll to id 100K+ · 4.9★ (225) wp.org #16 6 too low 11 WP Original Media Path 5K+ · 4.9★ (38) wp.org #15 ↓2 4 too low 12 Donation Thermometer 2K+ · 4.4★ (12) wp.org #7 ↑1 5 too high 13 Donation Platform for WooCommerce: Fundraising & Donation Management 7K+ · 4.9★ (99) wp.org #24 11 too low 14 Paymattic – Secure, Simple Payment & Donation with Subscription Payments, Recurring Donations, Customer Management 3K+ · 4.8★ (44) wp.org #18 ↑3 4 too low 15 Accept Donations with PayPal & Stripe 10K+ · 3.8★ (23) wp.org #12 ↓8 3 too high 16 I iframe 60K+ · 4.4★ (56) wp.org #21 ↑1 5 too low 17 Doneren met Mollie 4K+ · 4.5★ (23) wp.org #14 ↓2 3 too high 18 Database Manager – WP Adminer 20K+ · 5.0★ (28) wp.org #17 1 too high 19 FundEngine – Donation and Crowdfunding Platform 1K+ · 4.2★ (22) wp.org #19 ↓4 20 Donate Me 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #6 14 too high 21 PDF Invoices Italian Add-on for WooCommerce 4K+ · 4.6★ (16) wp.org #22 ↑2 1 too low 22 Ko-fi Button 5K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #5 17 too high 23 C Cornerstone 20K+ · 4.0★ (6) wp.org #20 3 too high 24 Donate by BestWebSoft – Donations Acception Extention for WordPress 90+ · 3.7★ (7) wp.org #23 ↓4 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.