wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “free online form builder”
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 “free online form builder”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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
Lead Form Builder & Contact Form shows at wp.org #14 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 8K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 6 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
How this rank is calculated
Each plugin's merit score multiplies these inputs together: how recently it was updated, how current its "tested up to" WordPress version is, its install base (log scale, capped at 10 million), its support thread resolution rate, and a rating score. The rating score weights the star average by review volume against a sitewide prior, then scales it by the lower bound of the share of 4 and 5 star reviews. A plugin with 3.7 stars from tens of thousands of reviews can still outscore a 4.9 with a few dozen, because the small sample carries less certainty.
A health factor between 0.4 and 1.15 then adjusts that score for what wp.org's search can't see: PHP fatals or failed activations on a test install, PHP and WordPress compatibility, memory and page-speed footprint, suspicious review patterns, closure risk, and a large install base with very few reviews. Clean, adopted plugins earn a small lift.
A keyword ranking starts from wp.org's search order for the term, weighting each position by 1 divided by its place, then applies the merit correction and health factor above. Relevance to the keyword stays in the result, so the order can differ from the all-categories list on /best, which scores plugins with no search term.
Hover a row to see the main reason for its position.
Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2,147)
wp.org #1 2 
Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7,322)
wp.org #2 3 
WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14,389)
wp.org #3 4 
Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (808)
wp.org #4 5 
User Profile Builder – Beautiful User Registration Forms, User Profiles & User Role Editor 40K+ · 4.7★ (738)
wp.org #5 ↑1 6 
Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3,224)
wp.org #8 ↑2 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 7 
Ninja Forms – Contact Form Builder with Calculators, Quizzes, Signatures & AI Form Builder 500K+ · 4.4★ (1,398)
wp.org #6 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 8 
MetForm – Contact Form, Survey, Quiz, Conditional Forms, Form Templates & Custom Form Builder for Elementor 500K+ · 4.7★ (509)
wp.org #9 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 9 
Tutor LMS – eLearning and online course solution 100K+ · 4.4★ (591)
wp.org #10 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 10 
Formidable Forms – Contact Form, Survey, Quiz, Payment, Calculator Form & Custom Form Builder 300K+ · 4.8★ (1,389)
wp.org #13 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 11 
Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1,445)
wp.org #12 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 12 
Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (334)
wp.org #11 ↑5 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 13 
Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4,699)
wp.org #19 wp.org ranks it 6 places below merit 14 
Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2,528)
wp.org #18 ↑2 wp.org ranks it 4 places below merit 15 
FunnelKit – Funnel Builder Plugin for WooCommerce Checkout 30K+ · 5.0★ (1,028)
wp.org #22 ↓3 wp.org ranks it 7 places below merit 16 
Xpro Theme Builder For Elementor – FREE 20K+ · 5.0★ (14) thin reviews
wp.org #7 wp.org ranks it 9 places above merit 17 
Everest Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form, Quiz, Survey & Custom Form Builder with AI 90K+ · 4.9★ (375)
wp.org #21 ↓3 wp.org ranks it 4 places below merit 18 
Form Maker by 10Web – Mobile-Friendly Drag & Drop Contact Form Builder 30K+ · 4.5★ (778)
wp.org #23 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 5 places below merit 19 
Easy Form Builder by WhiteStudio – Drag & Drop Form Builder 1K+ · 5.0★ (70)
wp.org #15 wp.org ranks it 4 places above merit 20 
Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2,409)
wp.org #16 wp.org ranks it 4 places above merit 21 
Live Composer – Free WordPress Website Builder 10K+ · 4.4★ (212)
wp.org #24 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 22 
FluentCart – Online Store Builder & eCommerce Checkout 9K+ · 4.5★ (47)
wp.org #17 wp.org ranks it 5 places above merit 23 
Online Forms — Customizable Payment, Contact, Quiz, Survey Form Builder – Jotform 20K+ · 3.2★ (29)
wp.org #20 ↓3 wp.org ranks it 3 places above merit 24 Lead Form Builder & Contact Form 8K+ · 4.3★ (6) thin reviews
wp.org #14 wp.org ranks it 10 places above merit Merit ranking caps the install boost at 10M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted 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.