wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “payment plugin”
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 plugin”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 of the top 20. 7 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 #13 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 10 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
Paid Membership Subscriptions – Effortless Memberships, Recurring Payments & Content Restriction places #11 on merit, 4.7★ from 270 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.
Payment Plugins for Stripe WooCommerce 100K+ · 4.8★ (303) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #1 2 
Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143)
wp.org #3 1 too low 3 
Payment Plugins for PayPal WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (127) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #2 1 too high 4 
WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387)
wp.org #7 ↓2 3 too low 5 
Payment Plugins Braintree For WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.8★ (149)
wp.org #6 1 too low 6 
Business Directory Plugin – Easy Listing & Member Directories for WordPress 10K+ · 4.6★ (504)
wp.org #9 ↑3 3 too low 7 
Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281)
wp.org #12 ↑1 5 too low 8 
Easy Digital Downloads – eCommerce Payments and Subscriptions made easy 40K+ · 4.7★ (591)
wp.org #15 ↑2 7 too low 9 
WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (583) throws errorsnot PHP-current low rating, top placement
wp.org #4 ↑3 5 too high 10 
GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 100K+ · 4.6★ (708) throws errorsnot PHP-currentheavy footprint
wp.org #11 ↓3 1 too low 11 Paid Membership Subscriptions – Effortless Memberships, Recurring Payments & Content Restriction 10K+ · 4.7★ (270)
wp.org #20 9 too low 12 
WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway 700K+ · 3.1★ (237) throws errorsnot PHP-current low rating, top placement
wp.org #5 ↓1 7 too high 13 
FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410)
wp.org #19 6 too low 14 
Payment Gateway for PayPal on WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.4★ (73) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #10 ↓1 4 too high 15 
FunnelKit Payment Gateway for Stripe WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.9★ (53)
wp.org #18 3 too low 16 
WooPayments: Integrated WooCommerce Payments 800K+ · 3.4★ (177) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #8 ↑1 8 too high 17 
Paymattic – Secure, Simple Payment & Donation with Subscription Payments, Recurring Donations, Customer Management 3K+ · 4.8★ (44)
wp.org #17 ↓1 18 
WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) throws errorsnot PHP-currentheavy footprint
wp.org #21 ↓6 3 too low 19 
UPI QR Code Payment Gateway for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.8★ (256) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #23 4 too low 20 
GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155)
wp.org #24 4 too low 21 
Easy Accept Payments via PayPal 6K+ · 4.5★ (34)
wp.org #22 1 too low 22 
Yoco Payments 10K+ · 4.4★ (43) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #16 ↓2 6 too high 23 Payment Gateway for Authorize.net for WooCommerce 800+ · 5.0★ (3) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews
wp.org #13 ↑7 10 too high 24 
Razorpay Payment Button Plugin 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews
wp.org #14 ↓1 10 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.