wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “easy payment gateway”
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 “easy payment gateway”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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
Payment Gateway for PhonePe and for Woocommerce shows at wp.org #10 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 800+ 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
Paid Membership Subscriptions – Effortless Memberships, Recurring Payments & Content Restriction places #10 on merit, 4.7★ from 270 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
Easy Digital Downloads – eCommerce Payments and Subscriptions made easy 40K+ · 4.7★ (592)
wp.org #1 2 
Payment Gateway for PayPal on WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.4★ (73)
wp.org #2 3 
Easy Appointments 10K+ · 4.3★ (131)
wp.org #5 ↓1 2 too low 4 
Easy MCP AI – Connect Claude to WordPress: MCP Server for ChatGPT & AI Agents 30K+ · 4.9★ (16) thin reviews
wp.org #3 1 too high 5 
FunnelKit Payment Gateway for Stripe WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.9★ (53)
wp.org #6 1 too low 6 
Payment Gateway of Stripe for WooCommerce 7K+ · 4.4★ (66)
wp.org #7 1 too low 7 
UPI QR Code Payment Gateway for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.8★ (256)
wp.org #13 ↓4 6 too low 8 
Payment Plugins Braintree For WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.8★ (149)
wp.org #11 ↑1 3 too low 9 
Payment Gateway of PayPal for WooCommerce 6K+ · 4.2★ (79)
wp.org #8 1 too high 10 Paid Membership Subscriptions – Effortless Memberships, Recurring Payments & Content Restriction 10K+ · 4.7★ (270)
wp.org #17 ↑1 7 too low 11 
Events Made Easy 1K+ · 4.6★ (111)
wp.org #16 ↓1 5 too low 12 
Yoco Payments 10K+ · 4.4★ (43)
wp.org #12 ↑1 13 
Bangladeshi Payment Gateways – Make Payment Using QR Code 4K+ · 5.0★ (92)
wp.org #18 ↓1 5 too low 14 
Masteriyo LMS – LMS Course Builder, Quizzes & Certificates 6K+ · 4.8★ (184)
wp.org #21 ↑1 7 too low 15 
Custom Payment Gateway for WooCommerce 7K+ · 4.3★ (16) thin reviews
wp.org #9 ↑1 6 too high 16 
Payment Gateway for Authorize.net for WooCommerce 800+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews
wp.org #4 ↑1 12 too high 17 
Secure Gateway for Authorize.net and WooCommerce by Pledged Plugins 10K+ · 4.9★ (34)
wp.org #23 6 too low 18 
Paystack WooCommerce Payment Gateway 20K+ · 4.5★ (25)
wp.org #24 6 too low 19 
Payment Gateway bKash for WC 1K+ · 5.0★ (10) thin reviews
wp.org #22 3 too low 20 
Invoice Gateway for WooCommerce – Invoice Payment Gateway 2K+ · 4.4★ (7) thin reviews
wp.org #15 ↑1 5 too high 21 
Paysera Payment Gateway for WooCommerce 7K+ · 2.9★ (16) thin reviews
wp.org #19 2 too high 22 
Online Payments with iK Pay Gateway 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) thin reviews
wp.org #20 2 too high 23 
Crypto Payment Gateway with Instant Payouts 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews
wp.org #14 9 too high 24 Payment Gateway for PhonePe and for Woocommerce 800+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews
wp.org #10 ↑1 14 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.