Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “givewp”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 5 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

Billplz for GiveWP shows at wp.org #5 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 14 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

Clean Login places #9 on merit, 4.7★ from 144 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. 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 #1 2 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #2 3 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too low 4 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #6 ↓2 2 too low 5 Import and export users and customers 70K+ · 4.7★ (259) wp.org #8 ↓1 3 too low 6 MailOptin – Popup, Optin Forms & Email Newsletters for Mailchimp, HubSpot, AWeber Etc. 10K+ · 4.8★ (438) wp.org #12 ↓2 6 too low 7 oopspam Anti-Spam: Spam Protection for WordPress Forms & Comments (No CAPTCHA) 6K+ · 4.9★ (51) wp.org #14 ↓2 7 too low 8 Zero Spam for WordPress 20K+ · 4.1★ (143) wp.org #10 ↑5 2 too low 9 Clean Login 5K+ · 4.7★ (144) wp.org #20 11 too low 10 FuseWP – WordPress User Sync to Email List & Marketing Automation (Mailchimp, Constant Contact, ActiveCampaign etc.) 2K+ · 4.9★ (25) wp.org #13 ↓2 3 too low 11 hCaptcha for WP 70K+ · 4.6★ (88) wp.org #21 ↓8 10 too low 12 GiveWP Donation Widgets for Elementor 6K+ · 3.4★ (5) wp.org #3 9 too high 13 SilentShield – Captcha & Anti-Spam for WordPress (CF7, WPForms, Elementor, WooCommerce) 10K+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #11 ↓2 2 too high 14 Ultimeter – the Ultimate Progress and Goals Meter 1K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #15 ↓1 1 too low 15 Restrict User Access – Ultimate Membership & Content Protection 10K+ · 4.3★ (94) wp.org #24 9 too low 16 WP Client Reports 6K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #18 2 too low 17 Give – Paystack Gateway 1K+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #19 ↓3 2 too low 18 SureDonation – Donation Forms, Fundraising Campaigns & Donor Management 4K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 11 too high 19 Billplz for GiveWP 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #5 ↑1 14 too high 20 Payment Gateway Pix For GiveWP 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 ↓1 11 too high 21 Solid Performance – Your No-Code Caching, Performance, & Page Speed Solution 4K+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #17 4 too high 22 CHIP for GiveWP 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↑5 6 too high 23 Link Nacional Payment Gateway for MercadoPago and GiveWP 60+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 ↓2 1 too high 24 Paychangu Payment Gateway for GiveWP 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↓1 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.