wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “wp form”
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 “wp form”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 3 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
WP Accessibility shows at wp.org #16 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 5 places. Its 60K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.8★ average from 68 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Contact Form 7 10M+ · 4.0★ (2186)
wp.org #1 2 
Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144)
wp.org #2 3 
WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387)
wp.org #3 4 
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 #4 5 
Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (808)
wp.org #5 6 
WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4229)
wp.org #6 ↑4 7 
All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676)
wp.org #7 ↑5 8 
UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8709)
wp.org #10 ↓1 2 too low 9 
WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617)
wp.org #9 ↓2 10 
WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346)
wp.org #8 ↑3 2 too high 11 
Database Addon for Contact Form 7 – CFDB7 600K+ · 5.0★ (1875)
wp.org #13 ↑4 2 too low 12 
WP 2FA – Two-factor authentication for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (184)
wp.org #11 ↑10 1 too high 13 
FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410)
wp.org #12 ↑2 1 too high 14 
WP Activity Log 300K+ · 4.7★ (490)
wp.org #15 ↓7 1 too low 15 
Ultra Addons for Contact Form 7 60K+ · 4.8★ (108)
wp.org #14 ↑2 1 too high 16 
WP Reset 300K+ · 4.8★ (1014)
wp.org #21 ↓1 5 too low 17 
Ninja Forms – Contact Form Builder with Calculators, Quizzes, Signatures & AI Form Builder 500K+ · 4.4★ (1397)
wp.org #18 ↑6 1 too low 18 
Bit Form – Contact Form, Payment Forms, Multi Step Forms, Calculator & Custom Form Builder 10K+ · 5.0★ (259)
wp.org #19 1 too low 19 
WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click 100K+ · 4.8★ (1139)
wp.org #24 5 too low 20 
WP Data Access – App Builder for Tables, Forms, Dashboards, Charts & Maps 10K+ · 4.9★ (88)
wp.org #17 3 too high 21 WP Accessibility 60K+ · 4.8★ (68)
wp.org #16 5 too high 22 
WP Rollback – Rollback Plugins and Themes 200K+ · 4.9★ (215)
wp.org #23 ↓4 1 too low 23 
CF7 Apps – Addons for Contact Form 7 (Honeypot, Database, Redirection, Webhook, etc.) 300K+ · 3.8★ (135)
wp.org #20 ↓5 3 too high 24 
WP Login Form 7K+ · 4.6★ (13) thin reviews
wp.org #22 ↑1 2 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.