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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “caldera forms”

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 “caldera forms”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

Caldera Forms Google Sheets Connector shows at wp.org #2 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 19 places. Its 100+ 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

AMP for WP – Accelerated Mobile Pages places #12 on merit, 4.4★ from 1319 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807) wp.org #1 2 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 WP Armour – Honeypot Anti Spam 400K+ · 5.0★ (1471) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Formidable Forms – Contact Form, Survey, Quiz, Payment, Calculator Form & Custom Form Builder 300K+ · 4.8★ (1388) wp.org #8 ↑2 3 too low 6 Supreme Modules Lite – Divi Theme, Extra Theme and Divi Builder 200K+ · 4.8★ (109) wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too low 7 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #10 ↓1 3 too low 8 reCaptcha by BestWebSoft 100K+ · 3.9★ (391) wp.org #9 ↓1 1 too low 9 HandL UTM Grabber / Tracker 10K+ · 4.8★ (146) wp.org #13 ↑2 4 too low 10 Advanced Form Integration — Connect Forms to 300+ Apps 9K+ · 4.8★ (91) wp.org #12 ↓1 2 too low 11 HappyAddons for Elementor – 160 Elementor Widgets, GSAP Animations & Templates 400K+ · 4.8★ (489) wp.org #11 ↑1 12 AMP for WP – Accelerated Mobile Pages 70K+ · 4.4★ (1319) wp.org #18 ↓1 6 too low 13 Master Addons for Elementor – Elementor Addons, Widgets, Mega Menu Builder, Popup Builder, Widget Builder & Template Kits 30K+ · 4.5★ (212) wp.org #19 ↓3 6 too low 14 Email Template Designer – WP HTML Mail 20K+ · 4.8★ (87) wp.org #17 ↓4 3 too low 15 Form Vibes – Save Contact Form 7 & Elementor Form Entries to Database 10K+ · 4.9★ (132) wp.org #20 ↓2 5 too low 16 AutomatorWP – No-Code Workflow Automation, Integration & Webhooks Plugin, now with AI 6K+ · 4.8★ (202) wp.org #23 7 too low 17 HIPAA Forms 800+ · 4.3★ (9) wp.org #6 ↑1 11 too high 18 E2Pdf – Export Pdf Tool for WordPress 10K+ · 4.7★ (59) wp.org #14 4 too high 19 La Sentinelle antispam 3K+ · 5.0★ (21) wp.org #16 ↑6 3 too high 20 Captcha by BestWebSoft – Advanced Spam Protection, Math & OCR-Friendly Captcha for Site Forms 10K+ · 4.1★ (21) wp.org #15 ↑5 5 too high 21 Caldera Forms Google Sheets Connector 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #2 19 too high 22 Lead Form Data Collection to CRM 400+ · 4.0★ (46) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 Elastic Email Sender 10K+ · 4.8★ (10) wp.org #21 ↓2 2 too high 24 CiviCRM Profile Sync 500+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #22 ↓1 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.