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

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 “form creator”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 6 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

Auto Tag Creator – Automatic Tags for Posts and WooCommerce Products shows at wp.org #13 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.5★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Easy Digital Downloads – eCommerce Payments and Subscriptions made easy places #12 on merit, 4.7★ from 591 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Bit Form – Contact Form, Payment Forms, Multi Step Forms, Calculator & Custom Form Builder 10K+ · 5.0★ (259) wp.org #1 ↑2 2 MetForm – Contact Form, Survey, Quiz, Conditional Forms, Form Templates & Custom Form Builder for Elementor 500K+ · 4.7★ (509) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 SureForms – Contact Form Builder, AI Forms, Payment Form, Survey & Quiz 500K+ · 4.8★ (102) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 Formidable Forms – Contact Form, Survey, Quiz, Payment, Calculator Form & Custom Form Builder 300K+ · 4.8★ (1388) wp.org #7 ↑4 3 too low 5 Advanced Form Integration — Connect Forms to 300+ Apps 9K+ · 4.8★ (91) wp.org #5 ↑1 6 Form Maker by 10Web – Mobile-Friendly Drag & Drop Contact Form Builder 30K+ · 4.5★ (778) wp.org #6 ↑1 7 Everest Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form, Quiz, Survey & Custom Form Builder with AI 90K+ · 4.9★ (375) wp.org #8 1 too low 8 Custom Post Types and Custom Fields creator – WCK 10K+ · 4.7★ (97) wp.org #4 ↑1 4 too high 9 Spectra Legacy – Gutenberg Blocks 1M+ · 4.7★ (1872) wp.org #11 ↓2 2 too low 10 Redirection for Contact Form 7 200K+ · 4.7★ (275) wp.org #9 ↑3 1 too high 11 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #12 ↑9 1 too low 12 Easy Digital Downloads – eCommerce Payments and Subscriptions made easy 40K+ · 4.7★ (591) wp.org #23 11 too low 13 NEX-Forms – Ultimate Forms Plugin for WordPress 5K+ · 4.1★ (135) wp.org #14 ↑1 1 too low 14 weForms – Easy Drag & Drop Contact Form Builder For WordPress 10K+ · 4.5★ (111) wp.org #10 4 too high 15 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #22 7 too low 16 Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) wp.org #21 5 too low 17 Masteriyo LMS – LMS Course Builder, Quizzes & Certificates 6K+ · 4.8★ (184) wp.org #15 2 too high 18 JetFormBuilder — Dynamic Blocks Form Builder 80K+ · 4.2★ (72) wp.org #19 ↑1 1 too low 19 Contact Form Generator : Creative form builder for WordPress 700+ · 4.4★ (67) wp.org #17 2 too high 20 Link in Bio Creator – Social 2K+ · 4.3★ (21) wp.org #20 ↓1 21 VPSUForm – Drag & Drop Contact Form Builder with Email Automation 200+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #18 3 too high 22 Auto Tag Creator – Automatic Tags for Posts and WooCommerce Products 1K+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #13 ↑1 9 too high 23 Hostinger Reach – AI-Powered Email Marketing for WordPress 1M+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #24 ↓2 1 too low 24 AI Content Creator – Easy ChatGPT powered article generator 400+ · 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.