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

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 “hcaptcha”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

LukasApps CAPTCHA tools for Contact Form 7 shows at wp.org #9 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 100K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.1★ average from 48 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Customer Reviews for WooCommerce places #8 on merit, 4.8★ from 1539 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 signals wp.org

hCaptcha for WP 70K+ · 4.6★ (88) wp.org #1 2

Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869) wp.org #3 ↑2 1 too low 3

Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too low 4

WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #6 ↓2 2 too low 5

Ninja Forms – Contact Form Builder with Calculators, Quizzes, Signatures & AI Form Builder 500K+ · 4.4★ (1397) wp.org #5 ↑5 6

CF7 Apps – Addons for Contact Form 7 (Honeypot, Database, Redirection, Webhook, etc.) 300K+ · 3.8★ (135) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #2 4 too high 7

Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807) wp.org #7 8

Customer Reviews for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (1539) wp.org #15 7 too low 9

Site Reviews 60K+ · 4.9★ (376) wp.org #12 ↓3 3 too low 10

WS Form LITE – Drag & Drop Contact Form Builder 10K+ · 5.0★ (322) wp.org #14 ↓1 4 too low 11

Loginizer 1M+ · 4.8★ (1033) not PHP-current wp.org #11 12

Formidable Forms – Contact Form, Survey, Quiz, Payment, Calculator Form & Custom Form Builder 300K+ · 4.8★ (1387) wp.org #22 9 too low 14

Everest Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form, Quiz, Survey & Custom Form Builder with AI 90K+ · 4.9★ (375) heavy footprint wp.org #19 5 too low 15

Password Protected 300K+ · 4.4★ (142) wp.org #17 ↓1 2 too low 16

CAPTCHA 4WP – Antispam CAPTCHA solution for WordPress 100K+ · 3.2★ (269) wp.org #13 ↓1 3 too high 17

All In One Login 60K+ · 3.6★ (35) wp.org #10 ↑12 7 too high 18

LukasApps CAPTCHA tools for Contact Form 7 100K+ · 4.1★ (48) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #9 ↓1 9 too high 19

Contact Form by Supsystic – Drag & Drop Form Builder with Templates & Form Statistics 6K+ · 4.7★ (92) wp.org #21 2 too low 20

Advanced IP Blocker 3K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #16 ↑8 4 too high 21

WP User Manager – Registration Form, Login Form, User Profile Builder & Member Directory 10K+ · 4.7★ (350) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #23 ↓2 2 too low 22

Passster – Password Protect Pages and Content 10K+ · 4.2★ (60) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #18 ↓4 4 too high 23

Cool FormKit Lite – Advanced Form Builder for Elementor 20K+ · 4.6★ (25) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #20 ↓2 3 too high 24

ePoll – Contest Poll Survey & Voting 1K+ · 3.9★ (24) thin reviews wp.org #24 ↓4

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.