Global Custom Fields vs Advanced Custom Fields

Head-to-head on the signals that matter, from the public WordPress.org data.

Global Custom Fields

by Tommaso Meli

Health D47

Advanced Custom Fields

by julienbechade

Health D45

Active-install trajectory

Global Custom Fields Advanced Custom Fields

Active installs, each indexed to 100 at the start of the window. A line above 100 is growing its install base, below 100 is shrinking.

Metric	Global Custom Fields	Advanced Custom Fields
Active installs Modeled from the public "N+" band and recent downloads.	100–200	900–1K ✓
Install trend Change in active installs across the charted window.	-50%	-10% ✓
Overall health	D · 47 ✓	D · 45
Maintenance How recently the plugin was updated.	3/100	3/100
Rating quality Volume-adjusted review quality.	81/100 ✓	76/100
Support Share of forum threads marked resolved.	70/100	70/100
Rating (adjusted)	4.22★ ✓	4.06★
Reviews	5 ✓	2
Ranking optimization How well the listing is tuned to rank on wp.org.	44/100 ✓	36/100
Removal risk Maintenance signals that precede a wp.org closure. Not an official status.	Elevated ✓	High
Last updated	5.4y ago ✓	8.8y ago
Downloads · 30d	106	128 ✓
Category	Uncategorized	Admin & Utilities

✓ marks the stronger plugin on each row. Rows where they're level show no marker.

Release activity

Global Custom Fields Advanced Custom Fields

7-day average daily downloads. Downloads spike for about a week after each release as the install base re-downloads, so read this as release cadence, not growth.