wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “custom css by url”
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 css by url”, 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
GravityWP – CSS Selector shows at wp.org #8 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 4K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 8 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.
Simple Custom CSS and JS 600K+ · 4.4★ (104)
wp.org #1 2 
Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1,440)
wp.org #2 3 
Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418)
wp.org #4 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 4 
ECS – Ele Custom Skin for Elementor 100K+ · 4.6★ (117)
wp.org #3 ↑1 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 5 
LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2,778)
wp.org #5 ↑2 6 
WPCode – Insert Headers and Footers + Custom Code Snippets – WordPress Code Manager 3M+ · 4.9★ (1,920)
wp.org #6 7 
Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5,043)
wp.org #9 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 8 
Custom Sidebars – Dynamic Sidebar Classic Widget Area Manager 100K+ · 4.7★ (1,028)
wp.org #10 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 9 
CSS & JavaScript Toolbox 10K+ · 4.8★ (84)
wp.org #7 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 10 
Jetpack Boost – Website Speed, Performance and Critical CSS 200K+ · 4.7★ (612)
wp.org #12 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 11 
Custom Twitter Feeds – A Tweets Widget or X Feed Widget 100K+ · 4.8★ (401)
wp.org #14 ↑9 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 12 
Gallery Custom Links 30K+ · 4.7★ (208)
wp.org #13 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 13 
TablePress – Tables in WordPress made easy 600K+ · 5.0★ (4,625)
wp.org #20 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 7 places below merit 14 
PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links 200K+ · 4.8★ (1,321)
wp.org #19 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 5 places below merit 15 
Hummingbird Performance – Cache & Page Speed Optimization for Core Web Vitals | Critical CSS | Minify CSS | Defer CSS Javascript | CDN 70K+ · 4.7★ (1,488)
wp.org #21 ↓5 wp.org ranks it 6 places below merit 16 
FluentSnippets – High-Performance Code Snippets, Header & Footer Code, Custom CSS & PHP Code Manager 50K+ · 4.7★ (78)
wp.org #11 wp.org ranks it 5 places above merit 17 
Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423)
wp.org #18 ↑2 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 18 
Product Addons for Woocommerce – Product Options with Custom Fields 30K+ · 4.9★ (477)
wp.org #22 ↓3 wp.org ranks it 4 places below merit 19 GravityWP – CSS Selector 4K+ · 5.0★ (8) thin reviews
wp.org #8 wp.org ranks it 11 places above merit 20 
Skyboot Custom Icons for Elementor – Elementor Icons library – 14300+ Icons 200K+ · 5.0★ (22) thin reviews
wp.org #15 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 5 places above merit 21 
CodeKit – Custom Codes Editor 7K+ · 4.8★ (16) thin reviews
wp.org #16 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 5 places above merit 22 
Custom Login 10K+ · 3.6★ (97)
wp.org #23 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 23 
Custom Adobe Fonts (Typekit) 60K+ · 4.4★ (8) thin reviews
wp.org #17 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 6 places above merit 24 
Body Class By URL Parameter 50+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews
wp.org #24 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.