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

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 hcaptcha”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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

Ultimate WP Captcha shows at wp.org #10 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 200+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin signals wp.org

hCaptcha for WP 70K+ · 4.6★ (88) wp.org #1 2

WP User Manager – Registration Form, Login Form, User Profile Builder & Member Directory 10K+ · 4.7★ (350) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too low 3

Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869) wp.org #4 1 too low 4

Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too low 5

WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #6 ↑1 1 too low 6

All In One Login 60K+ · 3.6★ (35) wp.org #2 ↑6 4 too high 7

Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (808) wp.org #7 ↓2 8

Ninja Forms – Contact Form Builder with Calculators, Quizzes, Signatures & AI Form Builder 500K+ · 4.4★ (1397) wp.org #9 1 too low 9

Site Reviews 60K+ · 4.9★ (376) wp.org #12 ↓1 3 too low 10

Loginizer 1M+ · 4.8★ (1033) wp.org #11 ↑3 1 too low 11

CF7 Apps – Addons for Contact Form 7 (Honeypot, Database, Redirection, Webhook, etc.) 300K+ · 3.8★ (135) wp.org #8 ↓5 3 too high 12

HireZoot – Job Listings, Career Page & Recruitment Tool 30K+ · 4.8★ (194) wp.org #15 ↑1 3 too low 13

WS Form LITE – Drag & Drop Contact Form Builder 10K+ · 5.0★ (322) wp.org #22 9 too low 14

Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528) wp.org #20 6 too low 15

Passster – Password Protect Pages and Content 10K+ · 4.2★ (60) wp.org #13 ↓3 2 too high 16

Password Protected 300K+ · 4.4★ (142) wp.org #21 ↓2 5 too low 17

Advanced IP Blocker 3K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #18 ↑6 19

WP Easy Pay – Payment and Donation Form Builder for Square 1K+ · 3.8★ (42) wp.org #16 ↑2 3 too high 20

CAPTCHA 4WP – Antispam CAPTCHA solution for WordPress 100K+ · 3.2★ (269) wp.org #23 3 too low 21

ePoll – Contest Poll Survey & Voting 1K+ · 3.9★ (24) thin reviews wp.org #19 ↑2 2 too high 22

WP Helper Premium 1K+ · 3.6★ (8) thin reviews wp.org #14 ↑1 8 too high 23

Ultimate WP Captcha 200+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #10 ↑2 13 too high 24

Captchinoo, admin login page protection with Google recaptcha 300+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews 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.