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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “captcha alternative”

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 “captcha alternative”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 4 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

BotShield CAPTCHA for Contact Form 7 shows at wp.org #9 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 80+ 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

Shield Security – Smart Bot Blocking, Brute-Force Login Protection & File Scanning places #6 on merit, 4.8★ from 1039 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 wp.org
1 Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #1 2 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5038) wp.org #2 3 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too low 4 Invisible Anti-Spam & CAPTCHA — reCAPTCHA Alternative for All Forms 4K+ · 4.8★ (50) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too high 5 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #11 ↓1 6 too low 6 Shield Security – Smart Bot Blocking, Brute-Force Login Protection & File Scanning 30K+ · 4.8★ (1039) wp.org #23 ↓1 17 too low 7 LukasApps CAPTCHA tools for Contact Form 7 100K+ · 4.1★ (48) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 Comments – wpDiscuz 60K+ · 4.7★ (581) wp.org #17 ↓2 9 too low 9 Contact Form by BestWebSoft – Advanced WP Contact Form Builder for WordPress 30K+ · 4.0★ (292) wp.org #21 12 too low 10 All In One Login 60K+ · 3.6★ (35) wp.org #10 11 reCAPTCHA for WooCommerce 40K+ · 4.6★ (76) wp.org #20 ↓1 9 too low 12 Password Protected 300K+ · 4.4★ (142) wp.org #22 ↓2 10 too low 13 Easy Spam Filter – Privacy-Friendly CAPTCHA Alternative with Turnstile for Contact Form 7, WPForms, BuddyPress, Elementor 1K+ · 4.0★ (7) wp.org #5 8 too high 14 CF7 Apps – Addons for Contact Form 7 (Honeypot, Database, Redirection, Webhook, etc.) 300K+ · 3.8★ (135) wp.org #15 ↓2 1 too low 15 Kitgenix CAPTCHA for Cloudflare Turnstile 700+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #7 8 too high 16 Captchinoo, admin login page protection with Google recaptcha 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #12 ↓1 4 too high 17 Enable Turnstile (Cloudflare) for Gravity Forms 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #16 1 too high 18 Hizzle CAPTCHA – Protect your forms from spam 500+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #13 ↓1 5 too high 19 Frontend Dashboard Captcha 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 11 too high 20 Multi-Form Anti-Spam Image CAPTCHA 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 6 too high 21 BotShield CAPTCHA for Contact Form 7 80+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 12 too high 22 Smart CAPTCHA Alternative with Cloudflare Turnstile 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↓2 3 too high 23 Gatekeep – Universal CAPTCHA & Anti-Spam for All Forms & Comments 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 Fraud and Scam Detection For WooCommerce 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 6 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.