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

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 “submissions”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 2 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

CF7 Submissions – Securely Store Contact Form 7 Data and Attachments, Reply to the Sender and more shows at wp.org #7 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Database Addon for Contact Form 7 – CFDB7 places #9 on merit, 5.0★ from 1875 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #1 2 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #2 3 Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #4 ↓1 5 Ninja Forms – Contact Form Builder with Calculators, Quizzes, Signatures & AI Form Builder 500K+ · 4.4★ (1397) wp.org #6 ↑3 1 too low 6 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #10 ↓3 4 too low 7 Ultra Addons for Contact Form 7 60K+ · 4.8★ (107) wp.org #9 ↑2 2 too low 8 Bing URL Submissions Plugin 40K+ · 3.3★ (21) wp.org #3 ↑1 5 too high 9 Database Addon for Contact Form 7 – CFDB7 600K+ · 5.0★ (1875) wp.org #22 13 too low 10 GSheetConnector – Elementor Forms Google Sheet Connector to Sync Submissions to Google Sheets 9K+ · 5.0★ (14) wp.org #8 2 too high 11 User Frontend – Membership, User Registration, User Profile, User Directory & Content Restriction with Frontend Post Submission 20K+ · 4.1★ (537) wp.org #14 ↑7 3 too low 12 MetForm – Contact Form, Survey, Quiz, Conditional Forms, Form Templates & Custom Form Builder for Elementor 500K+ · 4.7★ (509) wp.org #15 ↑9 3 too low 13 Redirection for Contact Form 7 200K+ · 4.7★ (275) wp.org #19 ↑4 6 too low 14 JobBoardWP – Job Board Listings and Submissions 900+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #13 1 too high 15 GSheetConnector – CF7 Google Sheets Connector & Save CF7 Entries to Database 40K+ · 4.4★ (129) wp.org #21 ↑1 6 too low 16 CF7 Apps – Addons for Contact Form 7 (Honeypot, Database, Redirection, Webhook, etc.) 300K+ · 3.8★ (135) wp.org #17 ↓7 1 too low 17 Frontend Post Submission Manager Lite – Guest Post and Frontend Submission Forms 1K+ · 4.5★ (22) wp.org #23 6 too low 18 Ninja Forms Views – Display & Edit Ninja Forms Submissions on your site frontend 1K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #18 ↓2 19 CF7 Submissions – Securely Store Contact Form 7 Data and Attachments, Reply to the Sender and more 2K+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #7 ↓1 12 too high 20 Duplicate Killer – Prevent Duplicate Form Submissions 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #12 ↑2 8 too high 21 Zhanzhangb Indexing Submission for Baidu 2K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #16 ↓1 5 too high 22 Submissions Hub for Divi 400+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 ↑1 11 too high 23 Spark GF Failed Submissions 70+ · 4.0★ (1) wp.org #20 ↓3 3 too high 24 WP Forms + Sprout Invoices – Easy Invoice & Quote Submissions 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24

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.