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

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 iframe”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 2 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 SMTP: Email Deliverability – FREE & Easy-to-use shows at wp.org #12 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 200+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads places #11 on merit, 4.9★ from 2433 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 signals wp.org

Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) heavy footprint wp.org #1 2

Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418) wp.org #5 ↓1 3 too low 3

Advanced iFrame 40K+ · 4.4★ (54) wp.org #3 4

Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1668) wp.org #6 2 too low 5

Smash Balloon Social Post Feed – Simple Social Feeds for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (1511) wp.org #8 3 too low 6

Custom Permalinks 100K+ · 4.1★ (116) wp.org #4 ↑1 2 too high 7

Custom Twitter Feeds – A Tweets Widget or X Feed Widget 100K+ · 4.8★ (401) wp.org #7 8

LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #9 ↑1 1 too low 9

Custom iFrame – Embed PDFs, Videos, and External Content in WordPress (Elementor & Gutenberg) 4K+ · 5.0★ (5) thin reviews wp.org #2 7 too high 10

Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #13 ↑3 3 too low 11

Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads 300K+ · 4.9★ (2433) wp.org #16 ↑4 5 too low 12

Advanced Custom Fields: Extended 100K+ · 4.8★ (132) wp.org #11 1 too high 13

Custom Block Builder – Lazy Blocks 20K+ · 4.9★ (80) wp.org #14 ↓2 1 too low 14

User Profile Builder – Beautiful User Registration Forms, User Profiles & User Role Editor 40K+ · 4.7★ (738) wp.org #22 ↑2 8 too low 15

GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #15 ↓1 16

Firelight Lightbox 200K+ · 4.8★ (361) wp.org #24 8 too low 17

WPFront Scroll Top 200K+ · 4.9★ (142) wp.org #21 ↑1 4 too low 18

Custom Product Tabs for WooCommerce & WordPress Tabs Builder – Smart Tabs 10K+ · 4.9★ (134) wp.org #23 ↓8 4 too low 20

Meta Field Block – Display Custom Fields for ACF, Meta Box and More 10K+ · 5.0★ (57) not PHP-current wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too high 21

WPB Custom Tab Manager for WooCommerce – Add, Edit & Reorder Tabs 500+ · 4.5★ (14) thin reviews wp.org #17 4 too high 22

Smart LazyLoad – Lazy Load Images, Videos and Iframes 300+ · 5.0★ (5) thin reviews wp.org #18 ↑3 4 too high 23 U Ultimate Member Custom Tab Builder Lite 500+ · 4.6★ (7) thin reviews wp.org #20 ↓1 3 too high 24

Custom SMTP: Email Deliverability – FREE & Easy-to-use 200+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #12 ↑1 12 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.