Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “acf copy”

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 “acf copy”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 5 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

ACF Field For CF7 shows at wp.org #6 but places #15 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.7★ average from 11 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) places #8 on merit, 5.0★ from 423 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Duplicate Post 300K+ · 4.9★ (1623) wp.org #2 ↓1 1 too low 2 ACF Frontend Admin by DynamiApps 8K+ · 4.5★ (160) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Table Field Add-on for ACF and SCF 50K+ · 4.9★ (60) wp.org #3 ↑2 4 Advanced Custom Fields: Extended 100K+ · 4.8★ (132) wp.org #4 ↓2 5 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #8 ↓2 3 too low 6 Polylang 900K+ · 4.7★ (3004) wp.org #10 ↓2 4 too low 7 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #18 11 too low 8 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #20 ↓1 12 too low 9 Meta Field Block – Display Custom Fields for ACF, Meta Box and More 10K+ · 5.0★ (57) wp.org #11 ↓1 2 too low 10 Advanced Forms for ACF 3K+ · 5.0★ (41) wp.org #13 ↓1 3 too low 11 Advanced Views – Display Framework – Gutenberg/Elementor/Shortcode 3K+ · 4.8★ (36) wp.org #12 ↓5 1 too low 12 Easy MCP AI – Connect Claude to WordPress: MCP Server for ChatGPT & AI Agents 30K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #9 3 too high 13 Duplicate Post – duplicate pages, copy content, clone posts 5K+ · 4.7★ (7) wp.org #5 ↑8 8 too high 14 Image Aspect Ratio Crop Field for Advanced Custom Fields 20K+ · 4.8★ (26) wp.org #14 15 ACF Field For CF7 10K+ · 4.7★ (11) wp.org #6 ↓3 9 too high 16 ACF Options For Polylang 20K+ · 4.4★ (17) wp.org #7 ↓3 9 too high 17 Visibility Logic for Elementor 20K+ · 4.8★ (58) wp.org #24 7 too low 18 Doubly – Cross Domain Copy Paste for WordPress 10K+ · 4.4★ (14) wp.org #23 5 too low 19 Repeaterly – ACF Repeater, Flexible Content & Dynamic Tags for Elementor 600+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #19 ↓1 20 C Copy/Paste FlexContent Blocks for ACF 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #15 ↓4 5 too high 21 Advanced Custom Fields: Typography Field 3K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #16 ↓1 5 too high 22 C Cosmo Block Edit Mode for ACF 1K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 23 Advanced Gallery & Repeater Fields for ACF 600+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 ↓1 6 too high 24 A Advanced Custom Fields: Image Size Select Field 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↓1 3 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.