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

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 controls”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 3 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

Custom Order Numbers for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #11 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 20K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.2★ average from 25 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 27821 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 2 Custom Post Type UI 1M+ · 4.6★ (276) wp.org #2 ↑2 3 Simple Custom Post Order 300K+ · 4.8★ (587) 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 2 too high 6 ECS – Ele Custom Skin for Elementor 100K+ · 4.6★ (117) wp.org #6 ↑4 7 Custom Sidebars – Dynamic Sidebar Classic Widget Area Manager 100K+ · 4.7★ (1028) wp.org #10 ↑1 3 too low 8 Product Addons for Woocommerce – Product Options with Custom Fields 30K+ · 4.9★ (474) wp.org #12 ↑2 4 too low 9 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #9 ↑4 10 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #19 9 too low 11 Custom Fonts – Host Your Fonts Locally 400K+ · 4.3★ (62) wp.org #7 4 too high 12 Secure Custom Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (69) wp.org #8 4 too high 13 Custom Twitter Feeds – A Tweets Widget or X Feed Widget 100K+ · 4.8★ (401) wp.org #18 ↑1 5 too low 14 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #13 ↓1 1 too high 15 Custom Order Status Manager for WooCommerce 30K+ · 4.7★ (117) wp.org #15 ↑1 16 MB Custom Post Types & Custom Taxonomies 10K+ · 4.7★ (13) wp.org #14 ↑1 2 too high 17 Custom Order Numbers for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.2★ (25) wp.org #11 ↓2 6 too high 18 Genesis Custom Blocks 10K+ · 4.5★ (21) wp.org #20 ↑1 2 too low 19 C Custom Upload Dir 5K+ · 4.4★ (25) wp.org #22 3 too low 20 Custom Adobe Fonts (Typekit) 60K+ · 4.4★ (8) wp.org #16 ↑1 4 too high 21 Custom 404 Pro 7K+ · 4.2★ (22) wp.org #24 ↓1 3 too low 22 Visibility Controls for Editor Blocks 900+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #23 ↓1 1 too low 23 BBH Custom Schema – Add Custom JSON-LD to Your Website 900+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #17 ↑3 6 too high 24 Custom Icons for Elementor and WPBakery 10K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↓3 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.