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

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 “money”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 of the top 20. 6 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

Money Space shows at wp.org #2 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 70+ 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

Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin places #8 on merit, 4.9★ from 1281 reviews, but shows at wp.org #15. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Money Manager 200+ · 5.0★ (16) wp.org #1 ↑21 2 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #5 ↓2 3 too low 3 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #6 ↓2 3 too low 4 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #4 ↓3 5 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #7 ↑13 2 too low 6 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #9 ↑1 3 too low 7 WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (583) wp.org #3 ↑10 4 too high 8 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #15 ↓8 7 too low 9 Redirection 2M+ · 4.4★ (703) wp.org #12 ↓1 3 too low 10 GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 100K+ · 4.6★ (708) wp.org #10 ↓4 11 Mercado Pago payments for WooCommerce 100K+ · 3.9★ (693) wp.org #11 ↓3 12 MonsterInsights – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Made Easy) 2M+ · 4.5★ (3157) wp.org #18 ↓4 6 too low 13 Media Library Categories 20K+ · 4.2★ (52) wp.org #19 6 too low 14 FOX – Currency Switcher Professional for WooCommerce 50K+ · 4.4★ (250) wp.org #20 ↓3 6 too low 15 Direct Payments for WooCommerce – Bank Transfer, Mobile Money, Crypto and Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Payments 800+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #8 ↓3 7 too high 16 Event Tickets and Registration 90K+ · 3.5★ (236) wp.org #23 7 too low 17 Affiliate Coupons – Coupon Display Manager – Excellent Tool for Affiliate Marketers 1K+ · 4.5★ (36) wp.org #21 4 too low 18 Money Space 70+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #2 16 too high 19 Pay with Vipps and MobilePay for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.8★ (13) wp.org #14 ↑2 5 too high 20 Interac e-Transfer / Email Money Transfer (EMT) Gateway for WooCommerce 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #16 ↓1 4 too high 21 Finachub Mobile Money Checkout for WooCommerce (M-Pesa, Airtel, MTN) 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 ↓1 8 too high 22 Ko-fi Button 5K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 ↑1 23 WooCommerce Shipping 70K+ · 2.0★ (18) wp.org #17 ↓8 6 too high 24 SmobilPay for e-commerce – Mobile Money Gateway for WooCommerce 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24

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.