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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “spam comment”

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 “spam comment”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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.

T

Ranked above its merit

Throws SPAM Away shows at wp.org #11 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 10K+ 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

Advanced Google reCAPTCHA places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 430 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 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #1 2 Akismet Anti-spam: Spam Protection 5M+ · 4.7★ (1187) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too low 5 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too low 6 WP Armour – Honeypot Anti Spam 400K+ · 5.0★ (1471) wp.org #10 4 too low 7 Spam Protection | Maspik 30K+ · 4.7★ (87) wp.org #7 ↓1 8 Disable Comments 1M+ · 4.7★ (281) wp.org #8 9 ActiveLayer Anti-Spam: Spam Protection for Forms & Comments 10K+ · 4.9★ (10) wp.org #4 ↑3 5 too high 10 Titan Anti-spam & Security – Brute Force Protection, 2FA & Spam Filter 50K+ · 4.5★ (370) wp.org #9 1 too high 11 Advanced Google reCAPTCHA 200K+ · 4.8★ (430) wp.org #16 5 too low 12 oopspam Anti-Spam: Spam Protection for WordPress Forms & Comments (No CAPTCHA) 6K+ · 4.9★ (51) wp.org #12 13 Antispam Bee 700K+ · 4.8★ (226) wp.org #20 ↑1 7 too low 14 Comments – wpDiscuz 60K+ · 4.7★ (581) wp.org #18 4 too low 15 Gravity Forms Zero Spam 100K+ · 4.3★ (24) wp.org #13 2 too high 16 Zero Spam for WordPress 20K+ · 4.1★ (143) wp.org #14 2 too high 17 Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #23 ↓1 6 too low 18 Forget Spam Comment 9K+ · 5.0★ (46) wp.org #21 ↓1 3 too low 19 WP Comment Cleaner – Delete All Comments, Disable Comments, Bulk Delete & Remove Comments 20K+ · 4.7★ (58) wp.org #22 ↑1 3 too low 20 Spam Destroyer 5K+ · 4.6★ (54) wp.org #19 1 too high 21 T Throws SPAM Away 10K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #11 10 too high 22 Comment Link Remove and Other Comment Tools 8K+ · 4.1★ (15) wp.org #15 7 too high 23 FluentComments – AJAX Comments, Anti-Spam & Comment Email Notifications 700+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 Dam Spam 3K+ · 4.3★ (4) wp.org #17 7 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.