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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “spammer”

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 “spammer”, we agree with wp.org 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.

B

Ranked above its merit

bbP Auto Block Spammers shows at wp.org #8 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 50+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Download Manager places #8 on merit, 4.1★ from 1006 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Stop Spammers Classic 20K+ · 4.4★ (243) wp.org #1 2 WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More 4M+ · 4.8★ (5209) wp.org #2 3 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Antispam Bee 700K+ · 4.8★ (226) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 The SEO Framework – Fast, Automated, Effortless. 200K+ · 4.9★ (380) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Image CAPTCHA for Contact Form 7 and WPForms by HookAndHook (DSGVO/GDPR) 70K+ · 4.7★ (49) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 Blackhole for Bad Bots 30K+ · 4.7★ (148) wp.org #12 5 too low 8 Download Manager 100K+ · 4.1★ (1006) wp.org #18 ↑2 10 too low 9 Disable Comments 1M+ · 4.7★ (281) wp.org #13 ↓4 4 too low 10 Anti-spam Reloaded 1K+ · 5.0★ (14) wp.org #7 3 too high 11 oopspam Anti-Spam: Spam Protection for WordPress Forms & Comments (No CAPTCHA) 6K+ · 4.9★ (51) wp.org #15 ↓4 4 too low 12 Security Ninja – WordPress Security & Firewall 7K+ · 4.7★ (101) wp.org #19 ↑2 7 too low 13 Disable XML-RPC-API 100K+ · 4.2★ (43) wp.org #16 ↓3 3 too low 14 B Blue Captcha 400+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #14 15 Solid Mail – SMTP email and logging made by SolidWP 60K+ · 4.2★ (52) wp.org #22 ↓3 7 too low 16 App for Cloudflare® 1K+ · 4.7★ (14) wp.org #11 ↑6 5 too high 17 Comment Link Remove and Other Comment Tools 8K+ · 4.1★ (15) wp.org #10 7 too high 18 La Sentinelle antispam 3K+ · 5.0★ (21) wp.org #24 6 too low 19 Spam Protect for Contact Form 7 10K+ · 4.1★ (12) wp.org #21 ↓5 2 too low 20 Dam Spam 3K+ · 4.3★ (4) wp.org #9 ↓1 11 too high 21 Block Referer Spam 500+ · 3.4★ (21) wp.org #20 ↓2 1 too high 22 Remove Website URL Field From Comment Form 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #17 ↓2 5 too high 23 B bbP Auto Block Spammers 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 ↓2 15 too high 24 Stop Media Comment Spamming 800+ · 3.0★ (6) wp.org #23 ↓1 1 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.