wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “pays”
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 “pays”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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
Amazon Pay for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #13 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 2.5★ average from 27 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
Easy Digital Downloads – eCommerce Payments and Subscriptions made easy places #5 on merit, 4.7★ from 591 reviews, but shows at wp.org #10. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway 700K+ · 3.1★ (237) low rating, top placement
wp.org #1 2 
Payment Plugins for Stripe WooCommerce 100K+ · 4.8★ (303)
wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too low 3 
WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (583) low rating, top placement
wp.org #2 ↑2 1 too high 4 
Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144)
wp.org #7 ↓1 3 too low 5 Easy Digital Downloads – eCommerce Payments and Subscriptions made easy 40K+ · 4.7★ (591)
wp.org #10 5 too low 6 
Payment Plugins for PayPal WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (127)
wp.org #8 ↑1 2 too low 7 
Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962)
wp.org #12 ↑1 5 too low 8 
Paid Membership Subscriptions – Effortless Memberships, Recurring Payments & Content Restriction 10K+ · 4.7★ (270)
wp.org #11 3 too low 9 
Multibanco, MB WAY, Credit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Payshop, and PIX (ifthenpay) for WooCommerce 8K+ · 5.0★ (21) thin reviews
wp.org #5 4 too high 10 
Pay with Vipps and MobilePay for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.8★ (13) thin reviews
wp.org #4 ↓1 6 too high 11 
Pronamic Pay 2K+ · 4.8★ (84)
wp.org #9 ↓1 2 too high 12 
WooPayments: Integrated WooCommerce Payments 800K+ · 3.4★ (177)
wp.org #6 ↑1 6 too high 13 
GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 100K+ · 4.6★ (708)
wp.org #16 ↓4 3 too low 14 
Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262)
wp.org #15 ↓1 1 too low 15 
FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410)
wp.org #20 ↑1 5 too low 16 
Post Pay Counter 1K+ · 4.8★ (46)
wp.org #14 ↑2 2 too high 17 
Pay for Payment for WooCommerce – Payment Gateway Fees & Discounts 10K+ · 4.7★ (71)
wp.org #18 1 too low 18 
Payment Gateway for PayPal on WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.4★ (73)
wp.org #17 1 too high 19 
Stripe Payment Forms by WP Simple Pay – Accept Credit Card Payments + Subscriptions with Stripe 8K+ · 4.4★ (117)
wp.org #19 20 
Pay For Post with WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.7★ (53)
wp.org #24 4 too low 21 
Paystack WooCommerce Payment Gateway 20K+ · 4.5★ (25)
wp.org #21 ↓1 22 Amazon Pay for WooCommerce 10K+ · 2.5★ (27)
wp.org #13 ↑2 9 too high 23 
Pronamic Pay with Mollie for Gravity Forms 300+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews
wp.org #23 24 
Pay. Payment Methods for WooCommerce 3K+ · 3.7★ (3) thin reviews
wp.org #22 2 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.