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

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 form”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 of the top 20. 5 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

SilentShield – Captcha & Anti-Spam for WordPress (CF7, WPForms, Elementor, WooCommerce) shows at wp.org #5 but places #14 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.7★ average from 24 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Calculated Fields Form – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact, Payment, Quote, Quiz & More places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 973 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 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #1 2 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #7 3 too low 5 Really Simple CAPTCHA 300K+ · 4.2★ (131) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807) wp.org #9 ↓3 3 too low 7 WPBruiser Security – No CAPTCHA Anti-Spam & Login Protection 10K+ · 4.6★ (213) wp.org #10 3 too low 8 Image CAPTCHA for Contact Form 7 and WPForms by HookAndHook (DSGVO/GDPR) 70K+ · 4.7★ (49) wp.org #8 ↑1 9 Calculated Fields Form – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact, Payment, Quote, Quiz & More 40K+ · 4.9★ (973) wp.org #18 ↓3 9 too low 10 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5038) wp.org #14 4 too low 11 Captcha Code 100K+ · 3.9★ (35) wp.org #6 ↑2 5 too high 12 Ultra Addons for Contact Form 7 60K+ · 4.8★ (107) wp.org #13 1 too low 13 Ninja Forms – Contact Form Builder with Calculators, Quizzes, Signatures & AI Form Builder 500K+ · 4.4★ (1397) wp.org #17 ↑1 4 too low 14 SilentShield – Captcha & Anti-Spam for WordPress (CF7, WPForms, Elementor, WooCommerce) 10K+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #5 9 too high 15 Bit Form – Contact Form, Payment Forms, Multi Step Forms, Calculator & Custom Form Builder 10K+ · 5.0★ (259) wp.org #19 4 too low 16 reCaptcha by BestWebSoft 100K+ · 3.9★ (391) wp.org #21 ↓1 5 too low 17 Invisible Anti-Spam & CAPTCHA — reCAPTCHA Alternative for All Forms 4K+ · 4.8★ (50) wp.org #24 7 too low 18 LukasApps CAPTCHA tools for Contact Form 7 100K+ · 4.1★ (48) wp.org #12 6 too high 19 Friendly Captcha for WordPress 10K+ · 3.9★ (18) wp.org #11 8 too high 20 CF7 Apps – Addons for Contact Form 7 (Honeypot, Database, Redirection, Webhook, etc.) 300K+ · 3.8★ (135) wp.org #15 ↑2 5 too high 21 Captcha by BestWebSoft – Advanced Spam Protection, Math & OCR-Friendly Captcha for Site Forms 10K+ · 4.1★ (21) wp.org #16 5 too high 22 D DS CF7 Math Captcha 10K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #22 23 Simple Login Captcha 10K+ · 3.9★ (17) wp.org #23 24 Captcha by Yandex for Contact Form 7 3K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #20 ↑1 4 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.