wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “down 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 “down payment”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 7 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

PhonePe Payment Solutions shows at wp.org #8 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 2.6★ average from 11 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Bit Form – Contact Form, Payment Forms, Multi Step Forms, Calculator & Custom Form Builder places #11 on merit, 5.0★ from 259 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #1 2

WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #2 3

Easy Digital Downloads – eCommerce Payments and Subscriptions made easy 40K+ · 4.7★ (591) wp.org #5 2 too low 4

Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #7 3 too low 5

Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807) wp.org #10 ↓2 5 too low 6

Payment Gateway for PayPal on WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.4★ (73) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #4 2 too high 7

Deposits & Partial Payments for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.9★ (111) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #6 1 too high 8

WooPayments: Integrated WooCommerce Payments 800K+ · 3.4★ (177) throws errorsnot PHP-current low rating, top placement wp.org #3 5 too high 9

SureForms – Contact Form Builder, AI Forms, Payment Form, Survey & Quiz 500K+ · 4.8★ (102) wp.org #11 ↓2 2 too low 10

Accept Stripe Payments 20K+ · 4.1★ (114) wp.org #12 ↓1 2 too low 11

Bit Form – Contact Form, Payment Forms, Multi Step Forms, Calculator & Custom Form Builder 10K+ · 5.0★ (259) wp.org #19 8 too low 12

SureCart – Ecommerce Made Easy For Selling Physical Products, Digital Downloads, Subscriptions, Donations, & Payments 80K+ · 4.8★ (288) heavy footprint wp.org #16 ↓1 4 too low 13

RegistrationMagic – Custom Registration Forms, User Registration, Payment, and User Login 7K+ · 4.5★ (459) wp.org #22 ↓1 9 too low 14

Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) not PHP-currentheavy footprint wp.org #23 9 too low 15

Mollie Payments for WooCommerce 100K+ · 3.6★ (69) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #9 ↑3 6 too high 16

Paytium: Mollie payment forms & donations 2K+ · 4.5★ (64) wp.org #20 ↓1 4 too low 17

Responsive Mortgage Calculator 7K+ · 4.4★ (21) thin reviews wp.org #15 ↓1 2 too high 18

Subscriptions for WooCommerce with Stripe Recurring Payments 1K+ · 4.9★ (25) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #14 ↓1 4 too high 19

Mortgage Calculator 4K+ · 5.0★ (8) thin reviews wp.org #13 ↑5 6 too high 20

Backend Payments for WooCommerce 800+ · 4.7★ (12) thin reviews wp.org #24 ↓1 4 too low 21

Cryptocurrency Payment Gateway 400+ · 4.6★ (11) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #18 ↓2 3 too high 22

PhonePe Payment Solutions 10K+ · 2.6★ (11) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #8 ↑2 14 too high 23

Simple Mortgage Calculator 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) thin reviews wp.org #21 ↑1 2 too high 24

Clicks Manual Payment Gateways for Pakistan 200+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #17 7 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.