Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “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 “payment gateway”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

Payment Gateway for Authorize.net for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #6 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 800+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Pay for Payment for WooCommerce – Payment Gateway Fees & Discounts places #11 on merit, 4.7★ from 71 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 Payment Plugins for Stripe WooCommerce 100K+ · 4.8★ (303) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway 700K+ · 3.1★ (237) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 FunnelKit Payment Gateway for Stripe WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.9★ (53) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Payment Gateway for PayPal on WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.4★ (73) wp.org #3 2 too high 6 UPI QR Code Payment Gateway for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.8★ (256) wp.org #8 ↑3 2 too low 7 Payment Plugins for PayPal WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (127) wp.org #11 4 too low 8 Payment Gateway of Stripe for WooCommerce 7K+ · 4.4★ (66) wp.org #9 ↓2 1 too low 9 Payment Gateway of PayPal for WooCommerce 6K+ · 4.2★ (79) wp.org #10 ↓2 1 too low 10 WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (583) wp.org #7 3 too high 11 Pay for Payment for WooCommerce – Payment Gateway Fees & Discounts 10K+ · 4.7★ (71) wp.org #20 ↓3 9 too low 12 Payment Gateway for Redsys & WooCommerce Lite 20K+ · 4.9★ (87) wp.org #15 ↓2 3 too low 13 Payment Gateway Based Fees and Discounts for WooCommerce 30K+ · 4.7★ (58) wp.org #14 ↓2 1 too low 14 Bangladeshi Payment Gateways – Make Payment Using QR Code 4K+ · 5.0★ (92) wp.org #19 5 too low 15 Custom Payment Gateways for WooCommerce 8K+ · 3.8★ (21) wp.org #13 ↓4 2 too high 16 Invoice Payment Gateway for WooCommerce 2K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #16 ↓2 17 Custom Payment Gateway for WooCommerce 7K+ · 4.3★ (16) wp.org #12 ↓2 5 too high 18 Yoco Payments 10K+ · 4.4★ (43) wp.org #24 6 too low 19 Payment Gateway for Authorize.net for WooCommerce 800+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #6 13 too high 20 Invoice Gateway for WooCommerce – Invoice Payment Gateway 2K+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #21 ↓3 1 too low 21 SUMIT Payment Gateway for WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #23 ↓1 2 too low 22 Instant Approval Payment Gateway with Instant Payouts 2K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #22 ↓2 23 Crypto Payment Gateway with Instant Payouts 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #18 ↓3 5 too high 24 Payment Gateway Icons For WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 7 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.