wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “auto captcha”
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 “auto captcha”, 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
ZigZag Image Captcha for Contact Form 7 shows at wp.org #8 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 60+ 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
Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 2144 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262)
wp.org #1 2 
Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221)
wp.org #3 1 too low 3 
Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5040)
wp.org #4 1 too low 4 
Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423)
wp.org #7 3 too low 5 
Friendly Captcha for WordPress 10K+ · 3.9★ (18) thin reviews
wp.org #2 3 too high 6 
Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869)
wp.org #10 4 too low 7 
LukasApps CAPTCHA tools for Contact Form 7 100K+ · 4.1★ (48)
wp.org #5 2 too high 8 
301 Redirects – Redirect Manager 300K+ · 4.7★ (578)
wp.org #11 3 too low 9 
hCaptcha for WP 70K+ · 4.6★ (88)
wp.org #9 10 
User Registration & Membership – Free & Paid Memberships, Subscriptions, Content Restriction, User Profile, Custom User Registration & Login Builder 50K+ · 4.8★ (832)
wp.org #18 ↑1 8 too low 11 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144)
wp.org #21 ↑1 10 too low 12 
Download Manager 90K+ · 4.1★ (1006)
wp.org #20 8 too low 13 
Loginizer 1M+ · 4.8★ (1033)
wp.org #19 ↓6 6 too low 14 
Ultra Addons for Contact Form 7 60K+ · 4.8★ (108)
wp.org #22 ↓1 8 too low 15 
Kitgenix CAPTCHA for Cloudflare Turnstile 700+ · 5.0★ (6) thin reviews
wp.org #6 9 too high 16 
CF7 Apps – Addons for Contact Form 7 (Honeypot, Database, Redirection, Webhook, etc.) 300K+ · 3.8★ (135)
wp.org #16 ↑1 17 
BotBlocker Security – Complete security platform 3K+ · 5.0★ (11) thin reviews
wp.org #12 5 too high 18 
ActiveLayer Anti-Spam: Spam Protection for Forms & Comments 10K+ · 4.9★ (10) thin reviews
wp.org #15 ↑1 3 too high 19 
Limit Attempts by BestWebSoft – WordPress Anti-Bot and Security Plugin for Login and Forms 4K+ · 4.6★ (37)
wp.org #24 5 too low 20 
Magic Login – Magic Link & Passwordless Authentication for WordPress – Login Without Password 3K+ · 4.8★ (26)
wp.org #23 3 too low 21 
Captchinoo, admin login page protection with Google recaptcha 300+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews
wp.org #14 ↑1 7 too high 22 ZigZag Image Captcha for Contact Form 7 60+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews
wp.org #8 14 too high 23 
AFB – Auto Form Builder: Drag & Drop Contact Forms, Multi-Step Forms, Conditional Logic & AI 200+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews
wp.org #13 ↑1 10 too high 24 
Multi-Form Anti-Spam Image CAPTCHA 30+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews
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.