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

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 “formidable”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

Formidable Forms Signature Online Contract Automation shows at wp.org #5 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 200+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP Armour – Honeypot Anti Spam places #6 on merit, 5.0★ from 1472 reviews, but shows at wp.org #15. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Formidable Forms – Contact Form, Survey, Quiz, Payment, Calculator Form & Custom Form Builder 300K+ · 4.8★ (1388) wp.org #1 2 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #2 ↑2 3 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #4 ↑5 1 too low 4 Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too high 5 Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205) wp.org #10 ↑12 5 too low 6 WP Armour – Honeypot Anti Spam 400K+ · 5.0★ (1472) wp.org #15 ↓3 9 too low 7 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #11 4 too low 8 WP Zoho for Contact Form 7, WPForms, Elementor, Formidable and Ninja Forms – CRM, Bigin 3K+ · 5.0★ (44) wp.org #8 ↓1 9 Simply Schedule Appointments 50K+ · 5.0★ (155) wp.org #13 ↑1 4 too low 10 Integration for Salesforce and Contact Form 7, WPForms, Elementor, Formidable, Ninja Forms 1K+ · 5.0★ (61) wp.org #12 ↓2 2 too low 11 Security Optimizer – The All-In-One Protection Plugin 1M+ · 4.5★ (157) wp.org #14 ↑5 3 too low 12 SilentShield – Captcha & Anti-Spam for WordPress (CF7, WPForms, Elementor, WooCommerce) 10K+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #17 ↓2 5 too low 13 SMTP Mailer 70K+ · 4.6★ (67) wp.org #24 ↓8 11 too low 14 Invisible Anti-Spam & CAPTCHA — reCAPTCHA Alternative for All Forms 5K+ · 4.8★ (50) wp.org #23 9 too low 15 Smart Phone Field For WPForms, Contact Form 7, Fluent Forms, Elementor Forms, WooCommerce, Formidable Forms, Ninja Forms 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #6 ↓1 9 too high 16 WP Dynamics CRM for Contact Form 7, WPForms, Elementor, Formidable and Ninja Forms 300+ · 4.9★ (19) wp.org #18 ↓1 2 too low 17 WP Zendesk for Contact Form 7, WPForms, Elementor, Formidable and Ninja Forms 400+ · 5.0★ (13) wp.org #16 ↓3 1 too high 18 GSheetConnector – Formidable Forms Google Sheets Connector, Export Entries to Spreadsheet 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #7 ↓1 11 too high 19 Formidable Forms Signature Online Contract Automation 200+ · 4.0★ (2) wp.org #5 ↓2 14 too high 20 WP Insightly for Contact Form 7, WPForms, Elementor, Formidable and Ninja Forms 100+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too high 21 Integration for Keap/infusionsoft and Contact Form 7, WPForms, Elementor, Formidable, Ninja Forms 200+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #21 ↑2 22 mosparo Integration 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #22 23 Formidable Forms + Sprout Invoices – Easy Invoice & Estimate Submissions 200+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #9 ↓1 14 too high 24 File Upload Field for Formidable Forms (lite) 100+ · 3.0★ (3) wp.org #20 ↑1 4 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.