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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “secure payment processing”

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 “secure payment processing”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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

Payment Gateway for Authorize.net for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #7 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 12 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

Translate WordPress with GTranslate places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 4962 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (583) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 Easy Digital Downloads – eCommerce Payments and Subscriptions made easy 40K+ · 4.7★ (591) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Payment Gateway for PayPal on WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.4★ (73) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway 700K+ · 3.1★ (237) wp.org #3 3 too high 7 Paid Membership Subscriptions – Effortless Memberships, Recurring Payments & Content Restriction 10K+ · 4.7★ (270) wp.org #11 4 too low 8 Payment Plugins Braintree For WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.8★ (149) wp.org #10 ↓1 2 too low 9 FunnelKit Payment Gateway for Stripe WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.9★ (53) wp.org #9 ↓1 10 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #22 ↑1 12 too low 11 WooPayments: Integrated WooCommerce Payments 800K+ · 3.4★ (177) wp.org #8 ↓1 3 too high 12 Payment Gateway of Stripe for WooCommerce 7K+ · 4.4★ (66) wp.org #12 13 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #16 ↓1 3 too low 14 Yoco Payments 10K+ · 4.4★ (43) wp.org #13 1 too high 15 Paymattic – Secure, Simple Payment & Donation with Subscription Payments, Recurring Donations, Customer Management 3K+ · 4.8★ (44) wp.org #14 1 too high 16 Masteriyo LMS – LMS Course Builder, Quizzes & Certificates 6K+ · 4.8★ (184) wp.org #24 8 too low 17 Secure Gateway for Authorize.net and WooCommerce by Pledged Plugins 10K+ · 4.9★ (34) wp.org #19 ↓1 2 too low 18 Better Payment – Instant Payments, Donations, Fundraising with Subscriptions & More 5K+ · 4.6★ (14) wp.org #15 3 too high 19 Payment Gateway for Authorize.net for WooCommerce 800+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #7 ↑3 12 too high 20 Online Payments with iK Pay Gateway 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #21 1 too low 21 Instant Approval Payment Gateway with Instant Payouts 2K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #23 ↓1 2 too low 22 Tilopay 2K+ · 4.3★ (4) wp.org #20 2 too high 23 I Inspire Commerce Gateway for WooCommerce 10K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #18 ↓1 5 too high 24 Payment Gateway for PhonePe and for Woocommerce 800+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 ↓1 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.