Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 link”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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

WPGraphQL for ACF shows at wp.org #3 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin places #11 on merit, 4.9★ from 1281 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) wp.org #1 2 ACF Frontend Admin by DynamiApps 8K+ · 4.5★ (160) wp.org #2 3 Broken Link Checker by AIOSEO – Find & Fix Broken Internal, External & Video Links 200K+ · 3.8★ (87) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Table Field Add-on for ACF and SCF 50K+ · 4.9★ (60) wp.org #7 3 too low 5 Internal Links Manager 10K+ · 4.8★ (33) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Advanced Custom Fields: Extended 100K+ · 4.8★ (132) wp.org #10 4 too low 7 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #14 7 too low 8 ACF Content Analysis for Yoast SEO 100K+ · 4.1★ (35) wp.org #5 3 too high 9 Link Whisper Free 30K+ · 4.2★ (151) wp.org #12 3 too low 10 Internal Link Juicer: SEO Auto Linker for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (537) wp.org #19 9 too low 11 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #24 13 too low 12 Admin Columns for ACF Fields 9K+ · 4.9★ (20) wp.org #8 4 too high 13 Meta Field Block – Display Custom Fields for ACF, Meta Box and More 10K+ · 5.0★ (57) wp.org #15 2 too low 14 ACF-VC Integrator 3K+ · 4.9★ (19) wp.org #13 1 too high 15 Advanced Forms for ACF 3K+ · 5.0★ (41) wp.org #22 7 too low 16 Advanced Views – Display Framework – Gutenberg/Elementor/Shortcode 2K+ · 4.8★ (36) wp.org #20 4 too low 17 Blocks for ACF Fields — Display Custom Fields in the Block Editor 2K+ · 4.9★ (13) wp.org #16 1 too high 18 Dynamic ACF Repeater for Elementor 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #9 9 too high 19 WPGraphQL for ACF 10K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #3 16 too high 20 ACF Galerie 4 2K+ · 3.7★ (6) wp.org #11 9 too high 21 CSV Importer Plus for ACF 400+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #17 4 too high 22 Simple Export Import for ACF Data 1K+ · 3.4★ (16) wp.org #23 1 too low 23 Custom Option Page for ACF 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #21 2 too high 24 Flexible Layout Preview Image for ACF 800+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 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.