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

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 sidebar”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 2 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.

C

Ranked above its merit

Cosmo Block Edit Mode for ACF shows at wp.org #10 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Admin Columns places #11 on merit, 4.9★ from 1652 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. 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 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #6 ↓2 4 too low 3 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 Polylang 900K+ · 4.7★ (3004) wp.org #7 ↑1 3 too low 5 Advanced Forms for ACF 3K+ · 5.0★ (41) wp.org #4 ↑2 1 too high 6 Disable Gutenberg 500K+ · 5.0★ (735) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 Blocks for ACF Fields — Display Custom Fields in the Block Editor 2K+ · 4.9★ (13) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 too high 8 Widget Options – Advanced Conditional Visibility for Gutenberg Blocks & Classic Widgets 100K+ · 4.9★ (1516) wp.org #13 5 too low 9 ACF Field For CF7 10K+ · 4.7★ (11) wp.org #2 ↑1 7 too high 10 Dynific Addons for Elementor (formerly Anywhere Elementor) 70K+ · 4.8★ (104) wp.org #11 1 too low 11 Admin Columns 100K+ · 4.9★ (1652) wp.org #23 ↑1 12 too low 12 Easy Table of Contents 600K+ · 4.4★ (221) wp.org #12 13 Simple History – Track, Log, and Audit WordPress Changes 300K+ · 4.9★ (491) wp.org #19 ↑1 6 too low 14 CF7 Apps – Addons for Contact Form 7 (Honeypot, Database, Redirection, Webhook, etc.) 300K+ · 3.8★ (135) wp.org #8 ↓1 6 too high 15 Advanced Custom Fields: Font Awesome Field 90K+ · 4.9★ (36) wp.org #14 1 too high 16 Category AJAX Filter – Posts, Custom Post Types & Product Filter 6K+ · 4.9★ (158) wp.org #22 ↓1 6 too low 17 ACF OpenStreetMap Field 10K+ · 4.6★ (24) wp.org #16 ↑1 1 too high 18 Secure Custom Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (69) wp.org #21 3 too low 19 Xpro Theme Builder For Elementor – FREE 20K+ · 5.0★ (14) wp.org #20 ↑3 1 too low 20 Royal MCP – Secure AI Connector for Claude, ChatGPT & any LLM via MCP 10K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #17 ↓1 3 too high 21 Secure MCP Server for Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and other AI Agents 8K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 Onyx Poll 60+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #15 7 too high 23 C Cosmo Block Edit Mode for ACF 1K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 13 too high 24 ACF Nav Menu Field 3K+ · 2.6★ (5) 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.