wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “mailpoet”
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 “mailpoet”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 of the top 20. 6 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
Integration for MailPoet and CF7 shows at wp.org #5 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 100+ 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
All-in-one Sticky Floating Contact Form, Call, Click to Chat, and 50+ Social Icon Tabs – My Sticky Elements places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 542 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation 500K+ · 4.4★ (1435) heavy footprint
wp.org #1 2 
WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387)
wp.org #6 4 too low 3 
WP Armour – Honeypot Anti Spam 400K+ · 5.0★ (1471)
wp.org #7 4 too low 4 
Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) not PHP-current
wp.org #4 5 
CMP – Coming Soon & Maintenance Plugin by NiteoThemes 200K+ · 4.7★ (326)
wp.org #8 ↑2 3 too low 6 
User Profile Builder – Beautiful User Registration Forms, User Profiles & User Role Editor 40K+ · 4.7★ (738)
wp.org #10 ↓1 4 too low 7 
UsersWP – Front-end login form, User Registration, User Profile & Members Directory plugin for WP 20K+ · 4.7★ (183)
wp.org #9 ↓1 2 too low 8 
Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense 90K+ · 4.9★ (1463) not PHP-current
wp.org #11 ↑12 3 too low 9 
Ninja Forms – Contact Form Builder with Calculators, Quizzes, Signatures & AI Form Builder 500K+ · 4.4★ (1397)
wp.org #14 ↑3 5 too low 10 All-in-one Sticky Floating Contact Form, Call, Click to Chat, and 50+ Social Icon Tabs – My Sticky Elements 40K+ · 4.9★ (542)
wp.org #18 8 too low 11 
WP Popups – WordPress Popup builder 30K+ · 4.9★ (112)
wp.org #13 ↓1 2 too low 12 
Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807)
wp.org #16 ↓2 4 too low 13 
Calculated Fields Form – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact, Payment, Quote, Quiz & More 40K+ · 4.9★ (973)
wp.org #22 ↓8 9 too low 14 
Fluent Forms Connector for MailPoet 1K+ · 4.0★ (8) thin reviews
wp.org #3 11 too high 15 
Quiz Maker by AYS 20K+ · 4.9★ (601)
wp.org #23 8 too low 16 
Hustle – Email Marketing, Lead Generation, Optins, Popups 80K+ · 4.4★ (859)
wp.org #21 5 too low 17 
SMTP Mail Control for MailPoet 300+ · 5.0★ (3) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews
wp.org #2 15 too high 18 
Disable and Remove Google Fonts | GDPR & DSGVO friendly 100K+ · 4.5★ (46) heavy footprint
wp.org #12 ↑1 6 too high 19 
MetForm – Contact Form, Survey, Quiz, Conditional Forms, Form Templates & Custom Form Builder for Elementor 500K+ · 4.7★ (509) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #17 2 too high 20 
oopspam Anti-Spam: Spam Protection for WordPress Forms & Comments (No CAPTCHA) 6K+ · 4.9★ (51)
wp.org #24 4 too low 21 
EventPrime – Events Calendar, Bookings, Tickets & AI 7K+ · 4.4★ (85) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #20 1 too high 22 Integration for MailPoet and CF7 100+ · 5.0★ (3) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews
wp.org #5 17 too high 23 
HT Contact Form – Drag & Drop Form Builder for WordPress 10K+ · 4.2★ (5) not PHP-current thin reviews
wp.org #19 4 too high 24 
Connector for Gravity Forms and MailPoet 500+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews
wp.org #15 ↓4 9 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.