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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “custom box”

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 “custom box”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 of the top 20. 4 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

MB Custom Post Types & Custom Taxonomies shows at wp.org #11 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 5 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.7★ average from 13 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Custom Twitter Feeds – A Tweets Widget or X Feed Widget places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 401 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. 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 ↑1 2 Meta Box – A Framework for Dynamic Websites 500K+ · 4.8★ (165) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 Simple Custom Post Order 300K+ · 4.8★ (588) wp.org #5 ↑1 2 too low 4 Simple Custom CSS and JS 600K+ · 4.4★ (104) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Custom Permalinks 100K+ · 4.1★ (116) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Custom Sidebars – Dynamic Sidebar Classic Widget Area Manager 100K+ · 4.7★ (1028) wp.org #8 ↑1 2 too low 7 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #7 8 Product Addons for Woocommerce – Product Options with Custom Fields 30K+ · 4.9★ (474) wp.org #12 ↑1 4 too low 9 Popup Box – Create Countdown, Coupon, Video, Contact Form Popups 50K+ · 4.6★ (82) wp.org #9 ↓1 10 Simple Author Box 90K+ · 4.3★ (115) wp.org #6 ↓1 4 too high 11 Custom Twitter Feeds – A Tweets Widget or X Feed Widget 100K+ · 4.8★ (401) wp.org #19 8 too low 12 Co-Authors, Multiple Authors and Guest Authors in an Author Box with PublishPress Authors 20K+ · 4.9★ (114) wp.org #13 ↓2 1 too low 13 Noptin – Newsletter, New Post Notifications & Email Automation 10K+ · 4.5★ (120) wp.org #14 1 too low 14 Popup Box – Easily Create WordPress Popups 6K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #10 4 too high 15 Meta Field Block – Display Custom Fields for ACF, Meta Box and More 10K+ · 5.0★ (57) wp.org #18 3 too low 16 MB Custom Post Types & Custom Taxonomies 10K+ · 4.7★ (13) wp.org #11 ↑1 5 too high 17 Custom Field Template 30K+ · 4.0★ (24) wp.org #16 ↑1 1 too high 18 Custom Post Types and Custom Fields creator – WCK 10K+ · 4.7★ (97) wp.org #21 3 too low 19 Author Box WP Lens 900+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #15 4 too high 20 Easy Social Like Box – Popup – Sidebar Widget 6K+ · 4.4★ (18) wp.org #20 21 C Custom Post Type Widgets 10K+ · 4.8★ (14) wp.org #24 ↓2 3 too low 22 Gallery Box 1K+ · 4.1★ (18) wp.org #17 ↓1 5 too high 23 CodeKit – Custom Codes Editor 7K+ · 4.8★ (16) wp.org #22 ↑1 1 too high 24 BBH Custom Schema – Add Custom JSON-LD to Your Website 900+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #23 ↑1 1 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.