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

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 “forminator”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 of the top 20. 5 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

PDF for Forminator Forms + Drag and Drop Template Builder shows at wp.org #4 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 18 places. Its 200+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Popup Maker – Boost Sales, Conversions, Optins, Subscribers with the Ultimate WP Popup Builder places #7 on merit, 4.9★ from 4514 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #1 2 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #6 4 too low 3 WP Armour – Honeypot Anti Spam 400K+ · 5.0★ (1471) wp.org #8 5 too low 4 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #10 ↑2 6 too low 5 Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #5 6 Hustle – Email Marketing, Lead Generation, Optins, Popups 80K+ · 4.4★ (859) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 Popup Maker – Boost Sales, Conversions, Optins, Subscribers with the Ultimate WP Popup Builder 600K+ · 4.9★ (4514) wp.org #17 ↓1 10 too low 8 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #12 ↓1 4 too low 9 Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205) wp.org #11 ↑12 2 too low 10 Tablesome Table – Contact Form DB – WPForms, CF7, Gravity, Forminator, Fluent 7K+ · 4.8★ (89) wp.org #7 ↓1 3 too high 11 Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807) wp.org #16 ↓1 5 too low 12 wpDataTables – WordPress Data Table, Dynamic Tables & Table Charts Plugin 60K+ · 4.5★ (449) wp.org #18 ↑1 6 too low 13 reCaptcha by BestWebSoft 100K+ · 3.9★ (391) wp.org #20 ↑1 7 too low 14 Spam Protection | Maspik 30K+ · 4.7★ (87) wp.org #21 ↓4 7 too low 15 Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) wp.org #15 ↓2 16 wpDataTables integration for Forminator Forms 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #2 14 too high 17 GSheetConnector – Forminator Google Sheets Connector, Export Forminator Submissions 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #3 14 too high 18 SilentShield – Captcha & Anti-Spam for WordPress (CF7, WPForms, Elementor, WooCommerce) 10K+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #13 ↓3 5 too high 19 E2Pdf – Export Pdf Tool for WordPress 10K+ · 4.7★ (59) wp.org #19 ↓1 20 Hostinger Reach – AI-Powered Email Marketing for WordPress 1M+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #14 6 too high 21 mosparo Integration 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 PDF for Forminator Forms + Drag and Drop Template Builder 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #4 ↑1 18 too high 23 Honeypot Anti Spam for Forminator Forms 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #23 ↓1 24 Electronic Signature Add-on for Forminator 70+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 ↓2 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.