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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “captcha 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 “captcha plugin”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

SiteGuard WP Plugin shows at wp.org #11 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 500K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 15 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Under Construction places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 1285 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Anti-Spam by CleanTalk – Spam Protection Without CAPTCHA 200K+ · 4.8★ (3217) wp.org #1 ↑5 2 Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.6★ (259) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 Really Simple CAPTCHA 300K+ · 4.2★ (131) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5018) wp.org #10 ↑1 6 too low 5 reCaptcha by BestWebSoft 100K+ · 3.9★ (391) wp.org #9 ↑1 4 too low 6 Captcha Code 100K+ · 3.9★ (35) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too high 7 Image CAPTCHA for Contact Form 7 and WPForms by HookAndHook (DSGVO/GDPR) 70K+ · 4.7★ (49) wp.org #8 ↑1 1 too low 8 SilentShield – Captcha & Anti-Spam for WordPress (CF7, WPForms, Elementor, WooCommerce) 10K+ · 4.7★ (23) wp.org #4 ↓1 4 too high 9 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2135) wp.org #22 ↑2 13 too low 10 Under Construction 600K+ · 4.8★ (1285) wp.org #24 14 too low 11 Advanced Google reCAPTCHA 200K+ · 4.8★ (430) wp.org #23 ↓3 12 too low 12 Friendly Captcha for WordPress 10K+ · 3.9★ (18) wp.org #6 ↓1 6 too high 13 D DS CF7 Math Captcha 10K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #7 6 too high 14 CAPTCHA 4WP – Antispam CAPTCHA solution for WordPress 100K+ · 3.2★ (269) wp.org #13 1 too high 15 Login Security Captcha 10K+ · 4.9★ (20) wp.org #16 1 too low 16 Simple Login Captcha 10K+ · 3.9★ (17) wp.org #12 4 too high 17 B Blue Captcha 400+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #15 2 too high 18 Captcha by BestWebSoft – Advanced Spam Protection, Math & OCR-Friendly Captcha for Site Forms 10K+ · 4.1★ (21) wp.org #14 4 too high 19 Login No Captcha reCAPTCHA 50K+ · 4.5★ (63) wp.org #19 ↑3 20 LukasApps CAPTCHA tools for Contact Form 7 100K+ · 4.1★ (48) wp.org #17 3 too high 21 SiteGuard WP Plugin 500K+ · 4.3★ (15) wp.org #11 ↓3 10 too high 22 Power Captcha reCAPTCHA 900+ · 4.3★ (4) wp.org #18 ↑1 4 too high 23 Captcha by Yandex for Contact Form 7 3K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #20 ↓2 3 too high 24 Kaya Login Captcha 400+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↑2 3 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.