wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “custom button for wysiwyg”
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 button for wysiwyg”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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
Foliopress WYSIWYG shows at wp.org #13 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 200+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 8 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
User Profile Builder – Beautiful User Registration Forms, User Profiles & User Role Editor places #12 on merit, 4.7★ from 738 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
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.
Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1,440)
wp.org #1 2 
Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2,147)
wp.org #2 3 
Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418)
wp.org #3 4 
WPCode – Insert Headers and Footers + Custom Code Snippets – WordPress Code Manager 3M+ · 4.9★ (1,920)
wp.org #5 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 5 
Secure Custom Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (69)
wp.org #4 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 6 
LoginPress | wp-login Custom Login Page Customizer 200K+ · 4.8★ (1,077)
wp.org #9 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 7 
Custom Post Types and Custom Fields creator – WCK 10K+ · 4.7★ (97)
wp.org #6 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 8 
Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423)
wp.org #11 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 9 
Content Blocks (Custom Post Widget) 10K+ · 4.9★ (80)
wp.org #8 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 10 
Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612)
wp.org #10 11 
WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14,389)
wp.org #14 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 12 User Profile Builder – Beautiful User Registration Forms, User Profiles & User Role Editor 40K+ · 4.7★ (738)
wp.org #16 wp.org ranks it 4 places below merit 13 
Advanced Custom Fields: Extended 100K+ · 4.8★ (132)
wp.org #12 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 14 S Smart Custom Fields 50K+ · 4.9★ (21) thin reviews
wp.org #7 wp.org ranks it 7 places above merit 15 
Slider, Gallery, and Carousel by MetaSlider – Image Slider, Video Slider 500K+ · 4.6★ (743)
wp.org #17 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 16 
Everest Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form, Quiz, Survey & Custom Form Builder with AI 90K+ · 4.9★ (375)
wp.org #21 wp.org ranks it 5 places below merit 17 
PowerPack Addons for Elementor: Widgets, Form Styler and Templates 70K+ · 4.8★ (361)
wp.org #23 wp.org ranks it 6 places below merit 18 
Meta Box – A Framework for Dynamic Websites 500K+ · 4.8★ (165)
wp.org #19 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 19 
Meta Field Block – Display Custom Fields for ACF, Meta Box and More 10K+ · 5.0★ (57)
wp.org #18 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 20 
Black Studio TinyMCE Widget 200K+ · 4.8★ (191)
wp.org #22 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 21 
CMB2 300K+ · 5.0★ (91)
wp.org #24 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 22 
Cool FormKit Lite – Advanced Form Builder for Elementor 20K+ · 4.6★ (25)
wp.org #20 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 23 Foliopress WYSIWYG 200+ · 4.0★ (8) thin reviews
wp.org #13 wp.org ranks it 10 places above merit 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 #15 wp.org ranks it 9 places above merit 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.