wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “fill”
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 “fill”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 of the top 20.
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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.
Ranked above its merit
Honeypot Anti-Spam shows at wp.org #14 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.7★ average from 12 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144)
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 
Masteriyo LMS – LMS Course Builder, Quizzes & Certificates 6K+ · 4.8★ (184)
wp.org #2 1 too high 4 
Download Monitor 80K+ · 4.5★ (525)
wp.org #4 5 
AI Engine – MCP Server & AI Chatbot for WordPress, with Claude, ChatGPT & Gemini 90K+ · 4.9★ (874)
wp.org #6 1 too low 6 
Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807)
wp.org #5 1 too high 7 
Product Feed PRO for WooCommerce by AdTribes – Product Feeds for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.7★ (1072)
wp.org #7 ↓1 8 
Quiz Maker by AYS 20K+ · 4.9★ (601)
wp.org #8 ↑8 9 
Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221)
wp.org #12 ↓3 3 too low 10 
MetForm – Contact Form, Survey, Quiz, Conditional Forms, Form Templates & Custom Form Builder for Elementor 500K+ · 4.7★ (509)
wp.org #9 ↓2 1 too high 11 
Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281)
wp.org #13 2 too low 12 
Mercado Pago payments for WooCommerce 100K+ · 3.9★ (693)
wp.org #10 ↑2 2 too high 13 
WP Armour – Honeypot Anti Spam 400K+ · 5.0★ (1472)
wp.org #17 ↓4 4 too low 14 
Quiz and Survey Master (QSM) – Quiz Maker & Survey Maker 40K+ · 4.7★ (1282)
wp.org #20 ↑4 6 too low 15 
FakerPress 10K+ · 4.9★ (205)
wp.org #18 ↓3 3 too low 16 
Campos Checkout Brasileiro para WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.9★ (45)
wp.org #11 ↓3 5 too high 17 
Nextend Social Login and Register 200K+ · 4.9★ (447)
wp.org #21 ↓1 4 too low 18 
Click to Chat – HoliThemes 600K+ · 4.8★ (131)
wp.org #16 ↓2 2 too high 19 
Sticky Header Effects for Elementor 300K+ · 4.5★ (69)
wp.org #15 ↓4 4 too high 20 
Ultra Addons for Contact Form 7 60K+ · 4.8★ (108)
wp.org #23 ↓6 3 too low 21 
Interactive Content – H5P 40K+ · 4.8★ (61)
wp.org #24 ↓2 3 too low 22 Honeypot Anti-Spam 10K+ · 4.7★ (12) thin reviews
wp.org #14 ↓4 8 too high 23 
QuickWebP – WebP & AVIF Image Optimizer, Compression & SEO for WordPress 8K+ · 4.8★ (20) thin reviews
wp.org #19 ↓1 4 too high 24 
WP SVG Images 30K+ · 5.0★ (13) thin reviews
wp.org #22 ↓3 2 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.