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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “pci”

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 “pci”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 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 Payfast Gateway shows at wp.org #8 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 30K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ average from 7 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Payment Plugins Braintree For WooCommerce places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 149 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (583) wp.org #1 ↑2 2 WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway 700K+ · 3.1★ (237) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too low 3 Secure Gateway for Authorize.net and WooCommerce by Pledged Plugins 10K+ · 4.9★ (34) wp.org #5 ↓1 2 too low 4 Ecwid by Lightspeed Ecommerce Shopping Cart 20K+ · 4.5★ (228) wp.org #10 ↑2 6 too low 5 Pledged Plugins PCI Gateway for NMI and WooCommerce 2K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 too high 6 WP Activity Log 300K+ · 4.7★ (490) wp.org #13 ↓7 7 too low 7 Payment Plugins Braintree For WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.8★ (149) wp.org #19 ↓6 12 too low 8 VikBooking Hotel Booking Engine & PMS 8K+ · 4.8★ (61) wp.org #16 ↑5 8 too low 9 WooCommerce Square 80K+ · 2.1★ (121) wp.org #6 ↓1 3 too high 10 Payment Gateway for Authorize.net for WooCommerce 800+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #4 ↑4 6 too high 11 Yoco Payments 10K+ · 4.4★ (43) wp.org #18 7 too low 12 PayPal Enterprise Payments (formerly Braintree) for WooCommerce 10K+ · 2.6★ (50) wp.org #9 ↑7 3 too high 13 Online Forms — Customizable Payment, Contact, Quiz, Survey Form Builder – Jotform 20K+ · 3.2★ (29) wp.org #12 ↓3 1 too high 14 Cognito Forms 2K+ · 4.0★ (19) wp.org #14 ↓3 15 I Inspire Commerce Gateway for WooCommerce 10K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #7 ↑16 8 too high 16 Conekta Payment Gateway 2K+ · 3.5★ (6) wp.org #11 ↓1 5 too high 17 WooCommerce Payfast Gateway 30K+ · 3.0★ (7) wp.org #8 ↓1 9 too high 18 Helcim for WooCommerce 800+ · 3.9★ (7) wp.org #17 ↓2 1 too high 19 Online Payments with iK Pay Gateway 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #21 ↑3 2 too low 20 GoDaddy Payments for WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #23 ↓1 3 too low 21 WP-FormAssembly 2K+ · 4.0★ (3) wp.org #15 ↓1 6 too high 22 Eway Payments for Woo 3K+ · 3.2★ (5) wp.org #22 ↓2 23 Sola Payment Gateway for WooCommerce 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 ↓3 3 too high 24 Dojo for WooCommerce 800+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24 ↓5

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.