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

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 dashboard”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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 #22 on merit, a gap of 11 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

Custom Sidebars – Dynamic Sidebar Classic Widget Area Manager places #8 on merit, 4.7★ from 1028 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) wp.org #1 2 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2135) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 Simple Custom Post Order 300K+ · 4.8★ (583) wp.org #3 ↑3 4 Ultimate Dashboard – Custom WordPress Dashboard 60K+ · 4.6★ (114) wp.org #4 5 Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418) wp.org #7 ↑1 2 too low 6 MonsterInsights – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Made Easy) 2M+ · 4.5★ (3152) wp.org #6 ↓4 7 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Google Sheets Sync, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (50) wp.org #5 2 too high 8 Custom Sidebars – Dynamic Sidebar Classic Widget Area Manager 100K+ · 4.7★ (1028) wp.org #16 8 too low 9 Gallery Custom Links 30K+ · 4.7★ (206) wp.org #13 ↓1 4 too low 10 Custom Permalinks 100K+ · 4.1★ (116) wp.org #9 ↑2 1 too high 11 White Label – WordPress Custom Admin, Custom Login Page, and Custom Dashboard 10K+ · 5.0★ (21) wp.org #8 ↓1 3 too high 12 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4825) wp.org #10 ↓1 2 too high 13 WPCode – Insert Headers and Footers + Custom Code Snippets – WordPress Code Manager 3M+ · 4.9★ (1898) wp.org #20 ↓3 7 too low 14 Product Addons for Woocommerce – Product Options with Custom Fields 30K+ · 4.9★ (470) wp.org #24 10 too low 15 Site Kit by Google – Analytics, Search Console, AdSense, Speed 5M+ · 4.2★ (1011) wp.org #17 ↑1 2 too low 16 Custom Taxonomy Order 50K+ · 4.8★ (96) wp.org #18 2 too low 17 Custom Fonts – Host Your Fonts Locally 400K+ · 4.3★ (62) wp.org #12 ↓2 5 too high 18 Dark Mode for WP Dashboard 3K+ · 4.8★ (34) wp.org #14 ↑7 4 too high 19 Remove Dashboard Access 30K+ · 4.6★ (78) wp.org #19 20 Frontend Dashboard 500+ · 4.9★ (134) wp.org #22 2 too low 21 Skyboot Custom Icons for Elementor – Elementor Icons library – 14300+ Icons 200K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #21 ↓6 22 Custom Order Numbers for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.2★ (25) wp.org #11 ↑2 11 too high 23 Download Plugins and Themes in ZIP from Dashboard 30K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #23 ↓3 24 UiPress lite | Effortless custom dashboards, admin themes and pages 6K+ · 4.1★ (21) wp.org #15 ↓1 9 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.