wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “user forms”
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 “user forms”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 4 of the top 20. 5 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
Crowdsignal Forms shows at wp.org #17 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 200K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144)
wp.org #1 2 
WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387)
wp.org #3 1 too low 3 
Contact Form 7 10M+ · 4.0★ (2186)
wp.org #2 1 too high 4 
Ninja Forms – Contact Form Builder with Calculators, Quizzes, Signatures & AI Form Builder 500K+ · 4.4★ (1397)
wp.org #4 5 
User Profile Builder – Beautiful User Registration Forms, User Profiles & User Role Editor 40K+ · 4.7★ (738)
wp.org #5 6 
Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807)
wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too low 7 
User Registration & Membership – Free & Paid Memberships, Subscriptions, Content Restriction, User Profile, Custom User Registration & Login Builder 50K+ · 4.8★ (832)
wp.org #9 ↑1 2 too low 8 
User Role Editor 700K+ · 4.5★ (288)
wp.org #6 ↑1 2 too high 9 
Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281)
wp.org #10 ↓1 1 too low 10 
Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445)
wp.org #11 1 too low 11 
WP User Manager – Registration Form, Login Form, User Profile Builder & Member Directory 10K+ · 4.7★ (350) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #8 3 too high 12 
Everest Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form, Quiz, Survey & Custom Form Builder with AI 90K+ · 4.9★ (375) heavy footprint
wp.org #12 13 
Stop User Enumeration 60K+ · 4.9★ (132)
wp.org #14 1 too low 14 
User Frontend – Membership, User Registration, User Profile, User Directory & Content Restriction with Frontend Post Submission 20K+ · 4.1★ (537) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #13 1 too high 15 
Import and export users and customers 70K+ · 4.7★ (259)
wp.org #22 ↑2 7 too low 16 
MetForm – Contact Form, Survey, Quiz, Conditional Forms, Form Templates & Custom Form Builder for Elementor 500K+ · 4.7★ (509) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #15 ↑1 1 too high 17 
Open User Map – Interactive Leaflet Maps 10K+ · 5.0★ (70)
wp.org #21 ↑1 4 too low 18 
New User Approve 20K+ · 4.3★ (131)
wp.org #19 ↑1 1 too low 19 
One User Avatar | User Profile Picture 100K+ · 4.7★ (41)
wp.org #16 ↑3 3 too high 20 
HTML Forms – Simple WordPress Forms Plugin 10K+ · 4.9★ (57)
wp.org #23 3 too low 21 
User Access Manager 10K+ · 4.4★ (112)
wp.org #24 3 too low 22 
ProfilePress – Paid Membership, Online Courses (LMS), Ecommerce, User Registration & Login Form, User Profile & Restrict Content 100K+ · 3.1★ (938) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #20 ↓5 2 too high 23 
Gutena Forms – Contact Form, Survey Form, Feedback Form, Booking Form, and Custom Form Builder 20K+ · 4.5★ (11) thin reviews
wp.org #18 ↓1 5 too high 24 Crowdsignal Forms 200K+ · 5.0★ (3) host-installed base thin reviews
wp.org #17 ↑1 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.