wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “conditional profile field”
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 “conditional profile field”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 5 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
Blocks for ACF Fields — Display Custom Fields in the Block Editor shows at wp.org #11 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.9★ average from 13 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
How this rank is calculated
Each plugin's merit score multiplies these inputs together: how recently it was updated, how current its "tested up to" WordPress version is, its install base (log scale, capped at 10 million), its support thread resolution rate, and a rating score. The rating score weights the star average by review volume against a sitewide prior, then scales it by the lower bound of the share of 4 and 5 star reviews. A plugin with 3.7 stars from tens of thousands of reviews can still outscore a 4.9 with a few dozen, because the small sample carries less certainty.
A health factor between 0.4 and 1.15 then adjusts that score for what wp.org's search can't see: PHP fatals or failed activations on a test install, PHP and WordPress compatibility, memory and page-speed footprint, suspicious review patterns, closure risk, and a large install base with very few reviews. Clean, adopted plugins earn a small lift.
A keyword ranking starts from wp.org's search order for the term, weighting each position by 1 divided by its place, then applies the merit correction and health factor above. Relevance to the keyword stays in the result, so the order can differ from the all-categories list on /best, which scores plugins with no search term.
Hover a row to see the main reason for its position.
User Profile Builder – Beautiful User Registration Forms, User Profiles & User Role Editor 40K+ · 4.7★ (738)
wp.org #1 2 
Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445)
wp.org #2 3 
Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418)
wp.org #3 4 
Checkout Field Editor (Checkout Manager) for WooCommerce 400K+ · 4.9★ (1056)
wp.org #4 5 
WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14388)
wp.org #7 2 too low 6 
MetForm – Contact Form, Survey, Quiz, Conditional Forms, Form Templates & Custom Form Builder for Elementor 500K+ · 4.7★ (509)
wp.org #6 7 
Five Star Business Profile and Schema 7K+ · 4.8★ (52)
wp.org #5 2 too high 8 
Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (808)
wp.org #8 9 
Flexible Checkout Fields for WooCommerce – WooCommerce Checkout Manager 80K+ · 4.7★ (296)
wp.org #9 10 
WPCode – Insert Headers and Footers + Custom Code Snippets – WordPress Code Manager 3M+ · 4.9★ (1917)
wp.org #10 ↑1 11 
User Registration & Membership – Free & Paid Memberships, Subscriptions, Content Restriction, User Profile, Custom User Registration & Login Builder 50K+ · 4.8★ (832)
wp.org #12 ↑2 1 too low 12 
Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7521)
wp.org #14 ↓2 2 too low 13 
Advanced Custom Fields: Extended 100K+ · 4.8★ (132)
wp.org #15 2 too low 14 
Formidable Forms – Contact Form, Survey, Quiz, Payment, Calculator Form & Custom Form Builder 300K+ · 4.8★ (1388)
wp.org #22 ↓2 8 too low 15 
User Frontend – Membership, User Registration, User Profile, User Directory & Content Restriction with Frontend Post Submission 20K+ · 4.1★ (537)
wp.org #17 ↑5 2 too low 16 
WP User Manager – Registration Form, Login Form, User Profile Builder & Member Directory 10K+ · 4.7★ (350)
wp.org #21 ↓2 5 too low 17 
Ninja Forms – Contact Form Builder with Calculators, Quizzes, Signatures & AI Form Builder 500K+ · 4.4★ (1397)
wp.org #20 3 too low 18 
Meta Box – A Framework for Dynamic Websites 500K+ · 4.8★ (165)
wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too low 19 
Checkout Field Editor (Checkout Manager) for WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.7★ (40)
wp.org #13 6 too high 20 
Classified Listing – AI-Powered Classified ads & Business Directory 9K+ · 4.8★ (138)
wp.org #23 ↓2 3 too low 21 Blocks for ACF Fields — Display Custom Fields in the Block Editor 2K+ · 4.9★ (13) thin reviews
wp.org #11 ↓1 10 too high 22 
Pie Register – User Registration, Profiles & Content Restriction 1K+ · 4.2★ (222)
wp.org #24 ↓1 2 too low 23 S Smart Custom Fields 50K+ · 4.9★ (21) thin reviews
wp.org #18 ↓1 5 too high 24 
Dynamic Fields Engine – Custom post types, Custom fields, Meta fields, Taxonomies, Listing builder, Query builder and Relations 3K+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews
wp.org #16 8 too high Merit ranking caps the install boost at 10M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted 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.