wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “wordpress donation 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 “wordpress donation plugin”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 3 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

SKT Donation – Charity and Fundraising Plugin shows at wp.org #14 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 200+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – Easy Social Feeds Plugin places #12 on merit, 4.9★ from 4358 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 100K+ · 4.6★ (708) throws errorsnot PHP-currentheavy footprint wp.org #1 2

Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #3 1 too low 3

WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #4 1 too low 4

MonsterInsights – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Made Easy) 2M+ · 4.5★ (3157) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #2 2 too high 5

Donation Platform for WooCommerce: Fundraising & Donation Management 7K+ · 4.9★ (99) wp.org #5 ↑1 6

Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #11 5 too low 7

Charitable – Donation & Fundraising Platform (Donation Forms, Recurring Donations & Fundraising Campaigns) 10K+ · 4.9★ (219) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #6 ↑2 1 too high 8

Contact Form 7 10M+ · 4.0★ (2186) wp.org #9 ↑1 1 too low 9

FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #12 3 too low 10

Donorbox – Free Recurring Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 8K+ · 4.8★ (34) wp.org #7 3 too high 11

Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – Easy Social Feeds Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4358) wp.org #23 ↓4 11 too low 13

Accept Donations with PayPal & Stripe 10K+ · 3.8★ (23) thin reviews wp.org #10 ↓5 3 too high 14

Donation Thermometer 2K+ · 4.4★ (12) thin reviews wp.org #8 ↑1 6 too high 15

Easy Accept Payments via PayPal 6K+ · 4.5★ (34) wp.org #16 ↑2 1 too low 16

Plugin Check (PCP) 10K+ · 4.5★ (36) wp.org #19 ↑1 3 too low 17

Donations via PayPal 20K+ · 4.7★ (27) wp.org #21 ↑2 4 too low 18

AidWP – Donation & Payment Forms (Stripe Powered) 800+ · 4.8★ (28) wp.org #22 ↑2 4 too low 19

FundEngine – Donation and Crowdfunding Platform 1K+ · 4.2★ (22) thin reviews wp.org #17 2 too high 20

FundPress – WordPress Donation Plugin 300+ · 3.8★ (4) thin reviews wp.org #13 ↑1 7 too high 21

Mission – Donation Plugin for WordPress – Fundraising & Recurring Donations 70+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #18 ↓2 3 too high 22

Paytm Payment Donation 200+ · 5.0★ (3) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #20 ↑2 2 too high 23

SKT Donation – Charity and Fundraising Plugin 200+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #14 ↑1 9 too high 24

SureDonation – Donation Forms, Fundraising Campaigns & Donor Management 4K+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #24

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.