wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “custom control”
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 control”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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
Mediavine Control Panel shows at wp.org #15 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.2★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440)
wp.org #1 2 
Custom Post Type UI 1M+ · 4.6★ (276)
wp.org #2 ↑2 3 
Simple Custom Post Order 300K+ · 4.8★ (588)
wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too low 4 
Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418)
wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too low 5 
Custom Permalinks 100K+ · 4.1★ (116)
wp.org #3 2 too high 6 
ECS – Ele Custom Skin for Elementor 100K+ · 4.6★ (117)
wp.org #6 ↑4 7 
Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322)
wp.org #9 ↑4 2 too low 8 
Custom Sidebars – Dynamic Sidebar Classic Widget Area Manager 100K+ · 4.7★ (1028)
wp.org #10 ↑2 2 too low 9 
Content Control – The Ultimate Content Restriction Solution! Restrict Content, Create Conditional Blocks & More 40K+ · 4.9★ (575)
wp.org #11 2 too low 10 
Secure Custom Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (69)
wp.org #8 2 too high 11 
WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833)
wp.org #14 ↑1 3 too low 12 
Custom Fonts – Host Your Fonts Locally 400K+ · 4.3★ (62)
wp.org #7 5 too high 13 
Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821)
wp.org #23 10 too low 14 
Product Addons for Woocommerce – Product Options with Custom Fields 30K+ · 4.9★ (474)
wp.org #19 ↓3 5 too low 15 
Min Max Control – Min Max Quantity & Step Control for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.7★ (79)
wp.org #13 ↑9 2 too high 16 
Custom Twitter Feeds – A Tweets Widget or X Feed Widget 100K+ · 4.8★ (401)
wp.org #22 ↑2 6 too low 17 
Custom Order Status Manager for WooCommerce 30K+ · 4.7★ (117)
wp.org #17 ↓3 18 
Custom Order Numbers for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.2★ (25)
wp.org #12 ↓3 6 too high 19 
MB Custom Post Types & Custom Taxonomies 10K+ · 4.7★ (13) thin reviews
wp.org #16 ↑2 3 too high 20 
Genesis Custom Blocks 10K+ · 4.5★ (21) thin reviews
wp.org #24 4 too low 21 
Custom Adobe Fonts (Typekit) 60K+ · 4.4★ (8) thin reviews
wp.org #18 ↑1 3 too high 22 Mediavine Control Panel 10K+ · 4.2★ (5) thin reviews
wp.org #15 ↑2 7 too high 23 
Order Status Control for WooCommerce 4K+ · 5.0★ (4) thin reviews
wp.org #20 ↑1 3 too high 24 
BBH Custom Schema – Add Custom JSON-LD to Your Website 900+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews
wp.org #21 ↑2 3 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.