Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 nav”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 4 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

CodeKit – Custom Codes Editor shows at wp.org #5 but places #15 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 7K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.8★ average from 16 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Menu Icons by Themeisle – Add Icons to Navigation Menus places #8 on merit, 4.9★ from 851 reviews, but shows at wp.org #12. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Nav Menu Roles 70K+ · 4.9★ (219) wp.org #1 2 ECS – Ele Custom Skin for Elementor 100K+ · 4.6★ (117) wp.org #2 3 User Menus – Nav Menu Visibility 80K+ · 5.0★ (1281) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Secure Custom Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (69) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #10 ↑1 3 too low 8 Menu Icons by Themeisle – Add Icons to Navigation Menus 100K+ · 4.9★ (851) wp.org #12 4 too low 9 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #8 ↑1 1 too high 10 Advanced Custom Fields: Extended 100K+ · 4.8★ (132) wp.org #9 ↑1 1 too high 11 User Registration & Membership – Free & Paid Memberships, Subscriptions, Content Restriction, User Profile, Custom User Registration & Login Builder 50K+ · 4.8★ (832) wp.org #14 3 too low 12 WP-PageNavi 400K+ · 4.7★ (149) wp.org #11 ↓3 1 too high 13 Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528) wp.org #18 ↑2 5 too low 14 Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4699) wp.org #23 9 too low 15 CodeKit – Custom Codes Editor 7K+ · 4.8★ (16) wp.org #5 10 too high 16 Nested Pages 90K+ · 4.7★ (126) wp.org #20 ↓1 4 too low 17 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #24 7 too low 18 Sticky Header Effects for Elementor 300K+ · 4.5★ (69) wp.org #21 3 too low 19 Breadcrumb – Breadcrumb for WooCommerce and Custom Post Types 10K+ · 4.6★ (34) wp.org #19 ↓1 20 WPML to Polylang 5K+ · 5.0★ (20) wp.org #16 ↑1 4 too high 21 Logo Slider – Logo Showcase, Logo Carousel, Logo Gallery and Client Logo Presentation 30K+ · 4.7★ (252) wp.org #22 ↑1 1 too low 22 CMB2 300K+ · 5.0★ (91) wp.org #17 ↓1 5 too high 23 Nav Menu Manager 800+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #13 10 too high 24 ACF Nav Menu Field 3K+ · 2.6★ (5) wp.org #15 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.