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

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 navigation”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

BBH Custom Schema – Add Custom JSON-LD to Your Website shows at wp.org #10 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 900+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 2051 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Simple Custom Post Order 300K+ · 4.8★ (588) wp.org #1 ↑2 2 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 Menu Icons by Themeisle – Add Icons to Navigation Menus 100K+ · 4.9★ (851) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too low 5 ECS – Ele Custom Skin for Elementor 100K+ · 4.6★ (117) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #6 ↓1 7 Custom Twitter Feeds – A Tweets Widget or X Feed Widget 100K+ · 4.8★ (401) wp.org #9 2 too low 8 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #11 3 too low 9 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27820) wp.org #14 5 too low 10 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #17 ↑3 7 too low 11 Table Field Add-on for ACF and SCF 50K+ · 4.9★ (60) wp.org #12 1 too low 12 List Custom Taxonomy Widget 8K+ · 4.7★ (21) wp.org #8 4 too high 13 Slider, Gallery, and Carousel by MetaSlider – Image Slider, Video Slider 500K+ · 4.6★ (743) wp.org #19 ↑3 6 too low 14 Custom Login Page Customizer 50K+ · 4.9★ (477) wp.org #23 ↑1 9 too low 15 Navigation menu as Dropdown Widget 2K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #7 8 too high 16 White Label – WordPress Custom Admin, Custom Login Page, and Custom Dashboard 10K+ · 5.0★ (21) wp.org #15 1 too high 17 WP Widget in Navigation 2K+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #13 4 too high 18 YITH WooCommerce Ajax Product Filter 70K+ · 3.5★ (98) wp.org #22 ↓1 4 too low 19 Custom Site Logo 1K+ · 4.7★ (9) wp.org #24 ↓1 5 too low 20 BBH Custom Schema – Add Custom JSON-LD to Your Website 900+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #10 10 too high 21 Better Section Navigation 600+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #21 ↓2 22 Endless Posts Navigation 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #18 ↓1 4 too high 23 Admin Posts Navigation 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #16 7 too high 24 Navigation JHAC 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 ↓2 4 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.