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

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 “honeypot”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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

Honeypot Guard – Silent Anti-Spam shows at wp.org #6 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 14 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

Site Reviews places #8 on merit, 4.9★ from 376 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP Armour – Honeypot Anti Spam 400K+ · 5.0★ (1471) wp.org #1 2 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #3 ↑2 1 too low 3 CF7 Apps – Addons for Contact Form 7 (Honeypot, Database, Redirection, Webhook, etc.) 300K+ · 3.8★ (135) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Ninja Forms – Contact Form Builder with Calculators, Quizzes, Signatures & AI Form Builder 500K+ · 4.4★ (1397) wp.org #10 ↑8 6 too low 5 Spam Protection | Maspik 30K+ · 4.7★ (87) wp.org #8 ↓1 3 too low 6 Honeypot Anti-Spam 10K+ · 4.7★ (12) wp.org #4 ↓1 2 too high 7 Blackhole for Bad Bots 30K+ · 4.7★ (148) wp.org #11 ↓1 4 too low 8 Site Reviews 60K+ · 4.9★ (376) wp.org #23 ↓9 15 too low 9 Redirection for Contact Form 7 200K+ · 4.7★ (275) wp.org #13 ↓1 4 too low 10 The SEO Framework – Fast, Automated, Effortless. 200K+ · 4.9★ (380) wp.org #21 11 too low 11 Honeypot Toolkit 400+ · 4.3★ (9) wp.org #5 ↓1 6 too high 12 Image CAPTCHA for Contact Form 7 and WPForms by HookAndHook (DSGVO/GDPR) 70K+ · 4.7★ (49) wp.org #15 ↓2 3 too low 13 hCaptcha for WP 70K+ · 4.6★ (88) wp.org #20 ↓5 7 too low 14 Gravity Forms Zero Spam 100K+ · 4.3★ (24) wp.org #12 ↓1 2 too high 15 SilentShield – Captcha & Anti-Spam for WordPress (CF7, WPForms, Elementor, WooCommerce) 10K+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #9 6 too high 16 Zero Spam for WordPress 20K+ · 4.1★ (143) wp.org #16 ↑6 17 Invisible Anti-Spam & CAPTCHA — reCAPTCHA Alternative for All Forms 4K+ · 4.8★ (50) wp.org #24 ↓5 7 too low 18 Atlant Security 700+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #14 ↑2 4 too high 19 AntiSpam for Contact Form 7 10K+ · 4.2★ (13) wp.org #18 ↓1 1 too high 20 Honeypot Guard – Silent Anti-Spam 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 14 too high 21 Honeypot Plus for Contact Form 7 900+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #7 ↑1 14 too high 22 Classic Honeypot for CF7 80+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 5 too high 23 Apio systems – Honeypot for Contact Form 7 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↑1 4 too high 24 Antispam for Elementor Forms 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 ↓1 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.