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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “captchas”

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 “captchas”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 6 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 #17 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 600K+ 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

Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 8869 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. 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, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) wp.org #3 4 Really Simple CAPTCHA 300K+ · 4.2★ (131) wp.org #4 5 Advanced Google reCAPTCHA 200K+ · 4.8★ (430) wp.org #9 4 too low 6 Captcha Code 100K+ · 3.9★ (35) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 WPBruiser Security – No CAPTCHA Anti-Spam & Login Protection 10K+ · 4.6★ (213) wp.org #12 5 too low 8 CAPTCHA 4WP – Antispam CAPTCHA solution for WordPress 100K+ · 3.2★ (269) wp.org #8 9 Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869) wp.org #20 ↑4 11 too low 10 LukasApps CAPTCHA tools for Contact Form 7 100K+ · 4.1★ (48) wp.org #6 4 too high 11 Image CAPTCHA for Contact Form 7 and WPForms by HookAndHook (DSGVO/GDPR) 70K+ · 4.7★ (49) wp.org #13 2 too low 12 SilentShield – Captcha & Anti-Spam for WordPress (CF7, WPForms, Elementor, WooCommerce) 10K+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #7 5 too high 13 Login Security Captcha 10K+ · 4.9★ (20) wp.org #11 2 too high 14 Invisible Anti-Spam & CAPTCHA — reCAPTCHA Alternative for All Forms 5K+ · 4.8★ (50) wp.org #15 1 too low 15 Login No Captcha reCAPTCHA 50K+ · 4.5★ (63) wp.org #10 5 too high 16 hCaptcha for WP 70K+ · 4.6★ (88) wp.org #24 8 too low 17 oopspam Anti-Spam: Spam Protection for WordPress Forms & Comments (No CAPTCHA) 6K+ · 4.9★ (51) wp.org #22 ↑1 5 too low 18 Login Lockdown & Protection 100K+ · 4.3★ (61) wp.org #23 ↓3 5 too low 19 D DS CF7 Math Captcha 10K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #14 5 too high 20 Captcha by BestWebSoft – Advanced Spam Protection, Math & OCR-Friendly Captcha for Site Forms 10K+ · 4.1★ (21) wp.org #18 2 too high 21 Friendly Captcha for WordPress 10K+ · 3.9★ (18) wp.org #16 5 too high 22 Simple Login Captcha 10K+ · 3.9★ (17) wp.org #19 3 too high 23 SiteGuard WP Plugin 600K+ · 4.3★ (15) wp.org #17 6 too high 24 Captcha by Yandex for Contact Form 7 3K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #21 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.