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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “modal forms”

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 “modal forms”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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 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

SearchWP Modal Search Form shows at wp.org #8 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 5K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 6 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 3221 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #1 2 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #2 3 Ninja Forms – Contact Form Builder with Calculators, Quizzes, Signatures & AI Form Builder 500K+ · 4.4★ (1397) wp.org #3 4 Easy Modal 7K+ · 4.4★ (124) wp.org #4 5 Everest Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form, Quiz, Survey & Custom Form Builder with AI 90K+ · 4.9★ (375) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 AJAX Login and Registration modal popup + inline form 3K+ · 4.7★ (120) wp.org #10 4 too low 7 Ocean Modal Window 10K+ · 4.8★ (11) wp.org #5 2 too high 8 MetForm – Contact Form, Survey, Quiz, Conditional Forms, Form Templates & Custom Form Builder for Elementor 500K+ · 4.7★ (509) wp.org #9 ↓1 1 too low 9 Modal Window – create popup modal window 10K+ · 3.8★ (36) wp.org #6 3 too high 10 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #24 ↓3 14 too low 11 Bit Form – Contact Form, Payment Forms, Multi Step Forms, Calculator & Custom Form Builder 10K+ · 5.0★ (259) wp.org #19 8 too low 12 Spectra Legacy – Gutenberg Blocks 1M+ · 4.7★ (1872) wp.org #18 6 too low 13 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #20 7 too low 14 hCaptcha for WP 70K+ · 4.6★ (88) wp.org #16 ↓3 2 too low 15 Lightbox & Modal Popup WordPress Plugin – FooBox 100K+ · 3.9★ (95) wp.org #15 ↑1 16 Gravity Forms Zero Spam 100K+ · 4.3★ (24) wp.org #11 5 too high 17 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #23 ↑1 6 too low 18 Osom Modal Login 400+ · 5.0★ (15) wp.org #13 ↑1 5 too high 19 SearchWP Modal Search Form 5K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #8 ↑1 11 too high 20 Modal Dialog 500+ · 4.4★ (16) wp.org #21 ↓2 1 too low 21 HIPAA Forms 800+ · 4.3★ (9) wp.org #22 1 too low 22 WPZOOM Forms – Drag & Drop Contact Form Builder for WordPress 10K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #12 10 too high 23 Modal Popup Box — Popup Maker & Popup Builder 2K+ · 3.5★ (10) wp.org #17 6 too high 24 Modal COD Form for woocommerce 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #14 ↑1 10 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.