wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “multiple fees”
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 “multiple fees”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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
WooCommerce PayPal Payments shows at wp.org #9 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 800K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 2.9★ average from 584 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 #14. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27820)
wp.org #2 1 too low 2 
Payment Gateway Based Fees and Discounts for WooCommerce 30K+ · 4.7★ (58)
wp.org #1 1 too high 3 
MainWP Child – Securely Connects to the MainWP Dashboard to Manage Multiple Sites 700K+ · 5.0★ (71)
wp.org #4 1 too low 4 
Site Kit by Google – Analytics, Search Console, AdSense, Speed 5M+ · 4.2★ (1012)
wp.org #5 1 too low 5 
Extra Fees for WooCommerce 7K+ · 4.3★ (42)
wp.org #3 2 too high 6 
Masteriyo LMS – LMS Course Builder, Quizzes & Certificates 6K+ · 4.8★ (184)
wp.org #8 ↑1 2 too low 7 
LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778)
wp.org #12 ↑1 5 too low 8 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281)
wp.org #14 6 too low 9 
Easy Digital Downloads – eCommerce Payments and Subscriptions made easy 40K+ · 4.7★ (592)
wp.org #13 ↓1 4 too low 10 
PI Conditional cart fee / Extra charge rule for WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.9★ (38)
wp.org #7 3 too high 11 
GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 100K+ · 4.6★ (708)
wp.org #16 ↓1 5 too low 12 
Drag and Drop Multiple File Upload for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.9★ (20) thin reviews
wp.org #6 6 too high 13 
Paid Membership Subscriptions – Effortless Memberships, Recurring Payments & Content Restriction 10K+ · 4.7★ (270)
wp.org #15 ↑1 2 too low 14 
Pay for Payment for WooCommerce – Payment Gateway Fees & Discounts 10K+ · 4.7★ (71)
wp.org #11 3 too high 15 
WP Armour – Honeypot Anti Spam 400K+ · 5.0★ (1472)
wp.org #23 ↑1 8 too low 16 
PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links 200K+ · 4.8★ (1322)
wp.org #24 ↓3 8 too low 17 
Tutor LMS – eLearning and online course solution 100K+ · 4.4★ (590)
wp.org #20 3 too low 18 WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (584)
wp.org #9 ↓1 9 too high 19 
Additional Fees For WooCommerce Checkout 200+ · 3.1★ (35)
wp.org #10 9 too high 20 
FluentCart A New Era of eCommerce – Faster, Lighter, and Simpler 9K+ · 4.5★ (46)
wp.org #22 2 too low 21 
Mollie Payments for WooCommerce 100K+ · 3.6★ (69)
wp.org #21 22 
Custom Payment Gateways for WooCommerce 8K+ · 3.8★ (21) thin reviews
wp.org #17 5 too high 23 
Multiple Cart Fee – Custom Extra Charges, Surcharges & Conditional Fees for WooCommerce 10+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews
wp.org #19 4 too high 24 
PCOD – Partial COD, Payment Gateway Restrictions & Fees | for WooCommerce 100+ · 2.3★ (4) thin reviews
wp.org #18 6 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.