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← Rankings

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

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 note”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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

Custom Order Numbers for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #11 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 10 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

Admin Custom Login places #12 on merit, 4.6★ from 388 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. 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★ (2143) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too low 3 Simple Custom CSS and JS 600K+ · 4.4★ (104) wp.org #2 ↑2 1 too high 4 Simple Custom Post Order 300K+ · 4.8★ (587) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Custom Permalinks 100K+ · 4.1★ (116) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too high 6 WPCode – Insert Headers and Footers + Custom Code Snippets – WordPress Code Manager 3M+ · 4.9★ (1916) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 ECS – Ele Custom Skin for Elementor 100K+ · 4.6★ (117) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 Product Addons for Woocommerce – Product Options with Custom Fields 30K+ · 4.9★ (474) wp.org #13 ↓1 5 too low 9 Custom Fonts – Host Your Fonts Locally 400K+ · 4.3★ (62) wp.org #7 2 too high 10 Custom Twitter Feeds – A Tweets Widget or X Feed Widget 100K+ · 4.8★ (401) wp.org #16 6 too low 11 Secure Custom Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (69) wp.org #9 ↑2 2 too high 12 Admin Custom Login 10K+ · 4.6★ (388) wp.org #20 ↓1 8 too low 13 Print Invoice & Delivery Notes for WooCommerce 30K+ · 4.4★ (140) wp.org #10 ↓1 3 too high 14 Advanced Custom Fields: Font Awesome Field 90K+ · 4.9★ (36) wp.org #14 15 Skyboot Custom Icons for Elementor – Elementor Icons library – 14300+ Icons 200K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #12 ↓2 3 too high 16 Content Blocks (Custom Post Widget) 10K+ · 4.9★ (80) wp.org #21 ↓1 5 too low 17 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #22 ↑2 5 too low 18 WebToffee WooCommerce PDF Invoices, Packing Slips, Delivery Notes & Shipping Labels 50K+ · 4.9★ (285) wp.org #19 1 too low 19 Real Custom Post Order: Create a custom order for your content 8K+ · 4.8★ (42) wp.org #15 4 too high 20 Custom Login 10K+ · 3.6★ (97) wp.org #18 2 too high 21 Custom Order Numbers for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.2★ (25) wp.org #11 ↑2 10 too high 22 C Custom Post Type Widgets 10K+ · 4.8★ (14) wp.org #23 1 too low 23 Custom Payment Gateways for WooCommerce 8K+ · 3.8★ (21) wp.org #24 ↓2 1 too low 24 BBH Custom Schema – Add Custom JSON-LD to Your Website 900+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #17 7 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.