wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “wpforms themes”

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 “wpforms themes”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 3 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

Date Time Picker for WPForms shows at wp.org #7 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 1K+ 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.

Buried gem

Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode places #5 on merit, 4.9★ from 4699 reviews, but shows at wp.org #10. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #1 2

Database Addon For WPForms ( wpforms entries ) – WPFormsDB 20K+ · 5.0★ (131) wp.org #2 3

FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #3 4

Utimate Kit ( Styler ) for WPForms 20K+ · 4.8★ (114) wp.org #4 5

Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4699) wp.org #10 ↓1 5 too low 6

Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #8 ↑2 2 too low 7

Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #12 5 too low 8

Views for WPForms – Display & Edit WPForms Entries on your site frontend 1K+ · 5.0★ (24) thin reviews wp.org #5 3 too high 9

File Upload For WPForms – Filenzo 1K+ · 5.0★ (25) wp.org #6 3 too high 10

Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) not PHP-current wp.org #9 ↓1 1 too high 11

WPVibe – MCP Server for WordPress, works with Claude, ChatGPT & other AI MCP agents 100K+ · 5.0★ (199) wp.org #13 ↑2 2 too low 12

Dark Mode – Improve Accessibility with AI Powered Dark Theme 20K+ · 4.5★ (391) wp.org #14 ↓1 2 too low 13

WP Armour – Honeypot Anti Spam 400K+ · 5.0★ (1471) wp.org #19 ↑1 6 too low 14

Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528) wp.org #17 ↑6 3 too low 15

UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #20 ↑2 5 too low 16

WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #21 5 too low 17

Image CAPTCHA for Contact Form 7 and WPForms by HookAndHook (DSGVO/GDPR) 70K+ · 4.7★ (49) wp.org #11 6 too high 18

LoginWP (Formerly Peter's Login Redirect) 80K+ · 4.8★ (503) wp.org #22 4 too low 19

WP Activity Log 300K+ · 4.7★ (490) wp.org #24 ↓10 5 too low 20

Contact Form & SMTP Plugin for WordPress by PirateForms 30K+ · 4.7★ (223) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #15 ↑1 5 too high 21

Tablesome Table – Contact Form DB – WPForms, CF7, Gravity, Forminator, Fluent 7K+ · 4.8★ (89) throws errorsnot PHP-currentheavy footprint wp.org #16 ↑1 5 too high 22

Royal MCP – Secure AI Connector for Claude, ChatGPT & any LLM via MCP 10K+ · 5.0★ (7) thin reviews wp.org #23 ↓5 1 too low 23

Date Time Picker for WPForms 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #7 16 too high 24

Shortcodes and extra features for Phlox theme 80K+ · 2.1★ (7) thin reviews wp.org #18 ↑3 6 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.