Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “javascript challenge”

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 “javascript challenge”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 of the top 20. 5 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

DesignSetGo shows at wp.org #13 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 8K+ 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

Titan Anti-spam & Security – Brute Force Protection, 2FA & Spam Filter places #11 on merit, 4.5★ from 370 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 Advanced IP Blocker 3K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #1 2 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #4 5 Invisible Anti-Spam & CAPTCHA — reCAPTCHA Alternative for All Forms 5K+ · 4.8★ (50) wp.org #6 ↑2 1 too low 6 hCaptcha for WP 70K+ · 4.6★ (88) wp.org #7 ↓2 1 too low 7 Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 3K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #5 ↑2 2 too high 8 oopspam Anti-Spam: Spam Protection for WordPress Forms & Comments (No CAPTCHA) 6K+ · 4.9★ (51) wp.org #8 ↓2 9 Sender – Newsletter, SMS and Email Marketing Automation for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.8★ (83) wp.org #10 ↓1 1 too low 10 Get Use APIs – JSON Content Importer 5K+ · 4.9★ (78) wp.org #14 ↓3 4 too low 11 Titan Anti-spam & Security – Brute Force Protection, 2FA & Spam Filter 50K+ · 4.5★ (370) wp.org #16 5 too low 12 Media Sync 50K+ · 4.7★ (86) wp.org #17 5 too low 13 Kama SpamBlock 4K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #11 ↓1 2 too high 14 Quttera ThreatSign – Web Malware Scanner for WordPress 10K+ · 3.9★ (47) wp.org #12 ↑1 2 too high 15 OpenPorte Spam Protection 500+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #9 ↑3 6 too high 16 Ever Accounting – Accounting & Invoicing Solution for Small Businesses 1K+ · 4.8★ (24) wp.org #21 ↑1 5 too low 17 App for Cloudflare® 1K+ · 4.7★ (14) wp.org #23 6 too low 18 Easy Spam Filter – Privacy-Friendly CAPTCHA Alternative with Turnstile for Contact Form 7, WPForms, BuddyPress, Elementor 1K+ · 4.0★ (7) wp.org #15 3 too high 19 BotBlocker Security – Complete security platform 3K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #22 ↓2 3 too low 20 Type Attribute Warnings Removal 900+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #18 2 too high 21 DesignSetGo 8K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #13 ↑1 8 too high 22 Kitgenix CAPTCHA for Cloudflare Turnstile 700+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #19 3 too high 23 Prosopo Procaptcha 200+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 Kianimr Form Arithmetic Challenge for Elementor 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↑1 4 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.