Post Meta vs Smart Custom Fields

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

Post Meta

by Mahbubur Rahman

Health C56

Smart Custom Fields

by Takashi Kitajima

Health A87

Active-install trajectory

Post MetaSmart 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	Post Meta	Smart Custom Fields
Active installs Modeled from the public "N+" band and recent downloads.	80–90	50K–60K ✓
Install trend Change in active installs across the charted window.	-20%	0% ✓
Overall health	C · 56	A · 87 ✓
Maintenance How recently the plugin was updated.	32/100	97/100 ✓
Rating quality Volume-adjusted review quality.	72/100	89/100 ✓
Support Share of forum threads marked resolved.	70/100	70/100
Rating (weighted for review count)	3.9★	4.5★ ✓
Reviews	7	21 ✓
Ranking optimization How well the listing is tuned to rank on wp.org.	63/100	90/100 ✓
Removal risk Maintenance signals that precede a wp.org closure. Not an official status.	Low	Low
Last updated	1.8y ago	4mo ago ✓
Downloads · 30d	102	9.2K ✓
Install conversion Active installs over lifetime downloads. Downloads include every update, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower.	0.4%	13% ✓
Category	Uncategorized	Uncategorized

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

Release activity

Post MetaSmart 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.