wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “register recaptcha”

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 “register recaptcha”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

UsersWP – ReCaptcha shows at wp.org #4 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 3K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.5★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) places #11 on merit, 5.0★ from 423 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Invisible reCaptcha 70K+ · 4.3★ (133) wp.org #1 2

reCAPTCHA for WooCommerce 40K+ · 4.6★ (76) wp.org #2 3

reCaptcha by BestWebSoft 100K+ · 3.9★ (391) wp.org #3 4

Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #7 ↑3 3 too low 5

Pie Register – User Registration, Profiles & Content Restriction 1K+ · 4.2★ (222) wp.org #6 1 too low 6

Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #12 ↑2 6 too low 7

User Profile Builder – Beautiful User Registration Forms, User Profiles & User Role Editor 40K+ · 4.7★ (738) wp.org #13 ↓1 5 too low 9

Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) not PHP-current wp.org #10 ↓1 1 too low 10

Loginizer 1M+ · 4.8★ (1033) not PHP-current wp.org #11 ↑4 1 too low 11

Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #21 ↓1 10 too low 12

Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) not PHP-current wp.org #18 6 too low 13

hCaptcha for WP 70K+ · 4.6★ (88) wp.org #16 ↓5 3 too low 14

ReCaptcha Integration for WordPress 9K+ · 4.4★ (95) wp.org #15 ↓2 1 too low 15

Ninja Forms – Contact Form Builder with Calculators, Quizzes, Signatures & AI Form Builder 500K+ · 4.4★ (1397) wp.org #24 9 too low 16

Simple Membership 40K+ · 4.6★ (475) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #19 3 too low 17

Theme My Login 50K+ · 3.7★ (460) wp.org #23 ↓5 6 too low 18

Captcha Code 100K+ · 3.9★ (35) wp.org #20 ↓3 2 too low 19

Power Captcha reCAPTCHA 900+ · 4.3★ (4) thin reviews wp.org #5 14 too high 20

UsersWP – ReCaptcha 3K+ · 4.5★ (2) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #4 16 too high 21

Uber reCaptcha 1K+ · 3.7★ (9) thin reviews wp.org #22 ↓3 1 too low 22

JAY Login & Register 100+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #17 ↓1 5 too high 23

reCAPTCHA V3 for Jetpack 400+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #8 ↓1 15 too high 24

Mailster reCaptcha 1K+ · 2.0★ (4) thin reviews wp.org #14 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.