Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “cf7 shortcode”

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 “cf7 shortcode”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 8 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

Connect CF7 to HubSpot – Contact Form 7 CRM Integration shows at wp.org #14 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 3221 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 CF7 Mate – Contact Form 7 Styler, Multi-Step Forms & Conditional Logic 20K+ · 3.9★ (46) wp.org #1 ↑3 2 CF7 Apps – Addons for Contact Form 7 (Honeypot, Database, Redirection, Webhook, etc.) 300K+ · 3.8★ (135) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 Conditional Fields for Contact Form 7 100K+ · 4.8★ (166) wp.org #4 ↓2 1 too low 4 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #12 8 too low 5 D DS CF7 Math Captcha 10K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #3 2 too high 6 Void Contact Form 7 Widget For Elementor Page Builder 10K+ · 4.9★ (103) wp.org #9 ↓1 3 too low 7 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #21 ↑1 14 too low 8 Extensions For CF7 (Contact form 7 Database, Conditional Fields and Redirection) 5K+ · 4.9★ (8) wp.org #5 3 too high 9 Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807) wp.org #23 ↑1 14 too low 10 SilentShield – Captcha & Anti-Spam for WordPress (CF7, WPForms, Elementor, WooCommerce) 10K+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #7 ↑4 3 too high 11 Smart Grid-Layout Design for Contact Form 7 10K+ · 4.5★ (72) wp.org #10 ↓1 1 too high 12 CF7 Views – Complete Entry Management for Contact Form 7 1K+ · 4.6★ (17) wp.org #6 6 too high 13 Redirection for Contact Form 7 200K+ · 4.7★ (275) wp.org #17 4 too low 14 Post My CF7 Form 2K+ · 4.8★ (48) wp.org #13 ↑1 1 too high 15 Get Use APIs – JSON Content Importer 5K+ · 4.9★ (78) wp.org #24 9 too low 16 Images Optimize and Upload CF7 700+ · 4.8★ (14) wp.org #8 ↓1 8 too high 17 Tablesome Table – Contact Form DB – WPForms, CF7, Gravity, Forminator, Fluent 7K+ · 4.8★ (89) wp.org #18 1 too low 18 ACF Field For CF7 10K+ · 4.7★ (11) wp.org #11 ↓1 7 too high 19 LukasApps CAPTCHA tools for Contact Form 7 100K+ · 4.1★ (48) wp.org #20 ↑1 1 too low 20 Data Source for Contact Form 7 300+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #19 ↑1 1 too high 21 Contact Form 7 Connector 5K+ · 4.3★ (16) wp.org #22 ↑1 1 too low 22 Email Addon for Contact Form 7 3K+ · 4.6★ (9) wp.org #15 7 too high 23 Connect CF7 to HubSpot – Contact Form 7 CRM Integration 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #14 ↓1 9 too high 24 HTML Editor for Contact Form 7 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #16 8 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.