wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “human verification”

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 “human verification”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 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

Makuruwan Arithmetic Human Quiz shows at wp.org #7 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 10+ 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

All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) places #9 on merit, 4.7★ from 5231 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #1 2

Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #2 ↓1 3

UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8709) wp.org #3 ↓1 4

hCaptcha for WP 70K+ · 4.6★ (88) wp.org #5 ↓2 1 too low 5

WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #10 ↓4 5 too low 6

WPVibe – MCP Server for WordPress, works with Claude, ChatGPT & other AI MCP agents 100K+ · 5.0★ (200) wp.org #12 ↓4 6 too low 7

Advanced IP Blocker 3K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #6 ↑4 1 too high 8

Password Protected 300K+ · 4.4★ (142) wp.org #11 ↓2 3 too low 9

All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #19 ↓1 10 too low 10

LukasApps CAPTCHA tools for Contact Form 7 100K+ · 4.1★ (48) wp.org #9 ↓5 1 too high 11

CF7 Apps – Addons for Contact Form 7 (Honeypot, Database, Redirection, Webhook, etc.) 300K+ · 3.8★ (135) wp.org #15 3 too low 13

New User Approve 20K+ · 4.3★ (131) wp.org #21 8 too low 14

Kali Forms — Contact Form & Drag-and-Drop Builder 10K+ · 4.8★ (89) wp.org #24 ↓2 10 too low 15

Shufti | Identity Verification Service 20+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #4 ↑7 11 too high 16

DevDome Analytics: Bot Traffic vs Human Traffic Website Statistics 300+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #8 ↓1 8 too high 17

BotBlocker Security – Complete security platform 3K+ · 5.0★ (11) thin reviews wp.org #23 ↓4 6 too low 18

Naimur Email OTP Verification for WooCommerce 60+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #13 ↓1 5 too high 19

Captchinoo, admin login page protection with Google recaptcha 300+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #16 3 too high 20

Makuruwan Arithmetic Human Quiz 10+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #7 ↓2 13 too high 21

SiaraShield 10+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #22 1 too low 22

Pay4All Age Verification – For WooCommerce & Pay4All Shop 70+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #17 ↓2 5 too high 23 V VAPTCHA Human Verification — · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #20 3 too high 24

Forge AI Bot Log – Block AI Bots, Crawler Detection & Verification 90+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #18 ↓1 6 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.