wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “stop spam registration”
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 “stop spam registration”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.
Ranked above its merit
Dam Spam shows at wp.org #12 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 3K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 4 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 #9 on merit, 4.8★ from 2,146 reviews, but shows at wp.org #15. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
How this rank is calculated
Each plugin's merit score multiplies these inputs together: how recently it was updated, how current its "tested up to" WordPress version is, its install base (log scale, capped at 10 million), its support thread resolution rate, and a rating score. The rating score weights the star average by review volume against a sitewide prior, then scales it by the lower bound of the share of 4 and 5 star reviews. A plugin with 3.7 stars from tens of thousands of reviews can still outscore a 4.9 with a few dozen, because the small sample carries less certainty.
A health factor between 0.4 and 1.15 then adjusts that score for what wp.org's search can't see: PHP fatals or failed activations on a test install, PHP and WordPress compatibility, memory and page-speed footprint, suspicious review patterns, closure risk, and a large install base with very few reviews. Clean, adopted plugins earn a small lift.
A keyword ranking starts from wp.org's search order for the term, weighting each position by 1 divided by its place, then applies the merit correction and health factor above. Relevance to the keyword stays in the result, so the order can differ from the all-categories list on /best, which scores plugins with no search term.
Hover a row to see the main reason for its position.
Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3,224)
wp.org #1 2 
Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5,043)
wp.org #3 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 3 
Spam Protection | Maspik 30K+ · 4.7★ (87)
wp.org #2 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 4 
User Registration & Membership – Free & Paid Memberships, Subscriptions, Content Restriction, User Profile, Custom User Registration & Login Builder 50K+ · 4.8★ (832)
wp.org #4 5 
WP Armour – Honeypot Anti Spam 400K+ · 5.0★ (1,474)
wp.org #8 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 6 
Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2,409)
wp.org #6 7 
Stop Spammers Classic 20K+ · 4.4★ (243)
wp.org #7 8 
All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1,720)
wp.org #11 ↑4 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 9 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2,146)
wp.org #15 ↓3 wp.org ranks it 6 places below merit 10 
Zero Spam for WordPress 20K+ · 4.1★ (143)
wp.org #9 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 11 
Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262)
wp.org #13 ↓3 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 12 
ActiveLayer Anti-Spam: Spam Protection for Forms & Comments 10K+ · 4.9★ (10) thin reviews
wp.org #5 wp.org ranks it 7 places above merit 13 
WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14,389)
wp.org #21 ↓3 wp.org ranks it 8 places below merit 14 
WP-Members Membership Plugin 50K+ · 4.6★ (272)
wp.org #20 wp.org ranks it 6 places below merit 15 
WPBruiser Security – No CAPTCHA Anti-Spam & Login Protection 10K+ · 4.6★ (213)
wp.org #19 wp.org ranks it 4 places below merit 16 
oopspam Anti-Spam: Spam Protection for WordPress Forms & Comments (No CAPTCHA) 6K+ · 4.9★ (51)
wp.org #14 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 17 
WP User Manager – Registration Form, Login Form, User Profile Builder & Member Directory 10K+ · 4.7★ (350)
wp.org #24 wp.org ranks it 7 places below merit 18 
Gravity Forms Zero Spam 100K+ · 4.3★ (24) thin reviews
wp.org #10 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 8 places above merit 19 
Spam Destroyer 5K+ · 4.6★ (54)
wp.org #16 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 3 places above merit 20 
Invisible Anti-Spam & CAPTCHA — reCAPTCHA Alternative for All Forms 5K+ · 4.8★ (50)
wp.org #18 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 21 
SilentShield – Captcha & Anti-Spam for WordPress (CF7, WPForms, Elementor, WooCommerce) 10K+ · 4.7★ (24) thin reviews
wp.org #17 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 4 places above merit 22 
Spam Master 200+ · 4.2★ (72)
wp.org #22 ↓1 23 
Anti-Spam Protection – No API Key, GDPR Friendly 1K+ · 5.0★ (12) thin reviews
wp.org #23 24 Dam Spam 3K+ · 4.3★ (4) thin reviews
wp.org #12 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 12 places above merit Merit ranking caps the install boost at 10M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted 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.