wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “wordpress form plugin”
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 “wordpress form plugin”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 5 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
GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress shows at wp.org #10 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 700K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.5★ average from 155 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
Calculated Fields Form – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact, Payment, Quote, Quiz & More places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 973 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
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 
UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8709)
wp.org #4 ↑1 5 
Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962)
wp.org #5 ↑2 6 
MonsterInsights – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Made Easy) 2M+ · 4.5★ (3157)
wp.org #6 ↓2 7 
WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4229)
wp.org #7 ↑5 8 
Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (808)
wp.org #9 ↓1 1 too low 9 Calculated Fields Form – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact, Payment, Quote, Quiz & More 40K+ · 4.9★ (973)
wp.org #14 ↓3 5 too low 10 
HTML Forms – Simple WordPress Forms Plugin 10K+ · 4.9★ (57)
wp.org #8 ↑1 2 too high 11 
Business Directory Plugin – Easy Listing & Member Directories for WordPress 10K+ · 4.6★ (504)
wp.org #12 ↑8 1 too low 12 
Hustle – Email Marketing, Lead Generation, Optins, Popups 80K+ · 4.4★ (859)
wp.org #13 ↑1 1 too low 13 
Database Addon for Contact Form 7 – CFDB7 600K+ · 5.0★ (1875)
wp.org #15 2 too low 14 
Independent Analytics – WordPress Analytics Plugin 100K+ · 4.8★ (167)
wp.org #11 ↑7 3 too high 15 
Bit Form – Contact Form, Payment Forms, Multi Step Forms, Calculator & Custom Form Builder 10K+ · 5.0★ (259)
wp.org #16 1 too low 16 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155)
wp.org #10 6 too high 17 
Payment Plugins for Stripe WooCommerce 100K+ · 4.8★ (303)
wp.org #20 ↑3 3 too low 18 
Ultra Addons for Contact Form 7 60K+ · 4.8★ (108)
wp.org #17 ↓4 1 too high 19 
Ninja Forms – Contact Form Builder with Calculators, Quizzes, Signatures & AI Form Builder 500K+ · 4.4★ (1397)
wp.org #21 2 too low 20 
FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410)
wp.org #19 ↑2 1 too high 21 
Contact Form by BestWebSoft – Advanced WP Contact Form Builder for WordPress 30K+ · 4.0★ (292)
wp.org #18 ↑1 3 too high 22 
MetForm – Contact Form, Survey, Quiz, Conditional Forms, Form Templates & Custom Form Builder for Elementor 500K+ · 4.7★ (509)
wp.org #22 ↓6 23 
CF7 Apps – Addons for Contact Form 7 (Honeypot, Database, Redirection, Webhook, etc.) 300K+ · 3.8★ (135)
wp.org #24 ↓7 1 too low 24 
WordPress Importer 2M+ · 3.1★ (327)
wp.org #23 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.