wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “registration captcha”

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 “registration captcha”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 3 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

Friendly Captcha for WordPress shows at wp.org #7 but places #14 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.9★ average from 18 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 2143 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #2 1 too low 2

Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) not PHP-current wp.org #1 1 too high 3

User Registration & Membership – Free & Paid Memberships, Subscriptions, Content Restriction, User Profile, Custom User Registration & Login Builder 50K+ · 4.8★ (832) wp.org #4 1 too low 4

WPBruiser Security – No CAPTCHA Anti-Spam & Login Protection 10K+ · 4.6★ (213) wp.org #6 2 too low 5

User Profile Builder – Beautiful User Registration Forms, User Profiles & User Role Editor 40K+ · 4.7★ (738) wp.org #9 4 too low 6

Captcha Code 100K+ · 3.9★ (35) wp.org #3 3 too high 7

Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) heavy footprint wp.org #12 5 too low 8

reCaptcha by BestWebSoft 100K+ · 3.9★ (391) wp.org #10 2 too low 9

Image CAPTCHA for Contact Form 7 and WPForms by HookAndHook (DSGVO/GDPR) 70K+ · 4.7★ (49) wp.org #8 1 too high 10

Advanced Google reCAPTCHA 200K+ · 4.8★ (430) wp.org #16 6 too low 11

SilentShield – Captcha & Anti-Spam for WordPress (CF7, WPForms, Elementor, WooCommerce) 10K+ · 4.7★ (24) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #5 6 too high 12

Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #23 11 too low 13

AJAX Login and Registration modal popup + inline form 3K+ · 4.7★ (120) wp.org #18 5 too low 14

Friendly Captcha for WordPress 10K+ · 3.9★ (18) thin reviews wp.org #7 7 too high 15

CAPTCHA 4WP – Antispam CAPTCHA solution for WordPress 100K+ · 3.2★ (269) wp.org #14 1 too high 16

Invisible Anti-Spam & CAPTCHA — reCAPTCHA Alternative for All Forms 4K+ · 4.8★ (50) wp.org #21 5 too low 17

Captcha by BestWebSoft – Advanced Spam Protection, Math & OCR-Friendly Captcha for Site Forms 10K+ · 4.1★ (21) thin reviews wp.org #11 6 too high 18

Login Security Captcha 10K+ · 4.9★ (20) thin reviews wp.org #17 2 too high 20 B Blue Captcha 400+ · 4.7★ (15) thin reviews wp.org #15 5 too high 21

No-Bot Registration 2K+ · 4.4★ (28) wp.org #24 3 too low 22

Kitgenix CAPTCHA for Cloudflare Turnstile 700+ · 5.0★ (6) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #22 23

Power Captcha reCAPTCHA 900+ · 4.3★ (4) thin reviews wp.org #20 3 too high 24

Kaya Login Captcha 400+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #19 5 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.