Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “forum plugin”

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 “forum plugin”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 4 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

reCAPTCHA for Asgaros Forum shows at wp.org #8 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 4K+ 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

WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups places #8 on merit, 4.8★ from 2470 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #1 ↑1 2 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8708) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too low 3 wpForo Forum 20K+ · 4.7★ (390) wp.org #2 ↓1 1 too high 4 Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Asgaros Forum 10K+ · 4.7★ (210) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too high 6 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #12 ↑2 6 too low 7 Discussion Board – WordPress Forum Plugin 1K+ · 4.6★ (43) wp.org #5 ↓2 2 too high 8 WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470) wp.org #16 ↑4 8 too low 9 Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4940) wp.org #9 10 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #10 ↑1 11 Contact Form 7 10M+ · 4.0★ (2186) wp.org #13 ↑5 2 too low 12 Forumax – AI Powered Advanced Community Forum Plugin 500+ · 5.0★ (18) wp.org #7 5 too high 13 Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – Easy Social Feeds Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4358) wp.org #20 ↓4 7 too low 14 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #21 7 too low 15 The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461) wp.org #18 ↑4 3 too low 16 bbPress 100K+ · 3.9★ (343) wp.org #15 1 too high 17 GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 100K+ · 4.6★ (708) wp.org #14 ↓2 3 too high 18 WP Rollback – Rollback Plugins and Themes 200K+ · 4.9★ (215) wp.org #23 5 too low 19 CM Answers – Discussion Forum Plugin for WordPress Q&A 300+ · 3.8★ (86) wp.org #11 ↓1 8 too high 20 Sitemap by BestWebSoft – WordPress XML Site Map Page Generator Plugin 20K+ · 4.3★ (115) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 Simple:Press Forum 300+ · 4.2★ (24) wp.org #17 ↑2 4 too high 22 Block Plugin Update 5K+ · 4.4★ (19) wp.org #19 ↑2 3 too high 23 reCAPTCHA for Asgaros Forum 4K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #8 15 too high 24 Better Plugin Compatibility Control 4K+ · 4.3★ (19) 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.