wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “offline 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 “offline payment”, 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

SureDonation – Donation Forms, Fundraising Campaigns & Donor Management shows at wp.org #9 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 4K+ 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

Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder places #6 on merit, 4.8★ from 807 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.

merit plugin signals wp.org

WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #1 2

Events Manager – Calendar, Bookings, Tickets, Appointments and more! 60K+ · 4.2★ (551) not PHP-current wp.org #2 ↑1 3

Paymattic – Secure, Simple Payment & Donation with Subscription Payments, Recurring Donations, Customer Management 3K+ · 4.8★ (44) wp.org #5 ↑1 2 too low 4

Custom Payment Gateways for WooCommerce 8K+ · 3.8★ (21) thin reviews wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too high 5

Advance Bank Payment Transfer Gateway 1K+ · 4.5★ (10) thin reviews wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too high 6

Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807) wp.org #17 ↓4 11 too low 7

GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 100K+ · 4.6★ (708) throws errorsnot PHP-currentheavy footprint wp.org #13 ↓1 6 too low 8

Event Genius – Event Calendar, Event Registration, and Attendee Management 600+ · 4.8★ (17) thin reviews wp.org #8 ↑9 9

Place Order Without Payment for WooCommerce 3K+ · 4.8★ (20) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #6 ↑2 3 too high 10

LearnPress – WordPress LMS Plugin for Create and Sell Online Courses 70K+ · 4.3★ (597) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #14 ↑1 4 too low 11

Event Booking Manager for WooCommerce – Sell Tickets, Event Registration, RSVP & Event Calendar 7K+ · 4.5★ (167) throws errorsnot PHP-currentheavy footprint wp.org #11 ↓4 12

Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #19 7 too low 13

EventPrime – Events Calendar, Bookings, Tickets & AI 7K+ · 4.4★ (85) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #15 ↓1 2 too low 14

Deposits & Partial Payments for WooCommerce – Bayna 1K+ · 5.0★ (49) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #18 4 too low 15

Sliced Invoices – WordPress Invoice Plugin 4K+ · 4.6★ (117) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #23 ↓1 8 too low 16

GazChap's WooCommerce Purchase Order Payment Gateway 200+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #7 ↑2 9 too high 17

Advanced Partial Payment or Deposit for WooCommerce 200+ · 4.6★ (13) thin reviews wp.org #21 4 too low 18

CF7 Apps – Addons for Contact Form 7 (Honeypot, Database, Redirection, Webhook, etc.) 300K+ · 3.8★ (135) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #24 6 too low 19

Razorpay Payment Button Plugin 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #10 9 too high 20

Conekta Payment Gateway 2K+ · 3.5★ (6) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #16 4 too high 21

Order Status Control for WooCommerce 4K+ · 5.0★ (4) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #20 ↓1 1 too high 22

SureDonation – Donation Forms, Fundraising Campaigns & Donor Management 4K+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #9 13 too high 23

CIELO API PIX, credit card, debit payment for WooCommerce 600+ · 4.2★ (5) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #22 ↓1 1 too high 24

Pay. Payment Methods for WooCommerce 3K+ · 3.7★ (3) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #12 ↓1 12 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.