wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “custom plugin builder”
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 plugin builder”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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
Xpro Theme Builder For Elementor – FREE shows at wp.org #14 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 20K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 14 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
FunnelKit – Funnel Builder Plugin for WooCommerce Checkout places #12 on merit, 5.0★ 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.
Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322)
wp.org #1 2 
Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144)
wp.org #2 3 
WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387)
wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too low 4 
Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440)
wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too high 5 
Beaver Builder Page Builder – Drag and Drop Website Builder 100K+ · 4.7★ (394)
wp.org #5 6 
User Profile Builder – Beautiful User Registration Forms, User Profiles & User Role Editor 40K+ · 4.7★ (738)
wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too low 7 
Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418)
wp.org #8 1 too low 8 
WP Table Builder – Drag & Drop Table Builder 50K+ · 4.8★ (681)
wp.org #9 1 too low 9 
Popup Builder – Create highly converting, mobile friendly marketing popups. 200K+ · 4.7★ (2215)
wp.org #11 2 too low 10 
Custom Post Type UI 1M+ · 4.6★ (276)
wp.org #6 ↑6 4 too high 11 
Simple Custom Post Order 300K+ · 4.8★ (588)
wp.org #10 ↑1 1 too high 12 FunnelKit – Funnel Builder Plugin for WooCommerce Checkout 30K+ · 5.0★ (1028)
wp.org #16 ↓1 4 too low 13 
Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807)
wp.org #12 ↓5 1 too high 14 
Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333)
wp.org #15 ↑6 1 too low 15 
CartFlows – Funnel Builder & Checkout Plugin for WooCommerce 200K+ · 4.8★ (517)
wp.org #19 ↓6 4 too low 16 
All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231)
wp.org #22 ↓4 6 too low 17 
Ninja Forms – Contact Form Builder with Calculators, Quizzes, Signatures & AI Form Builder 500K+ · 4.4★ (1397)
wp.org #20 ↓1 3 too low 18 
Custom Permalinks 100K+ · 4.1★ (116)
wp.org #13 ↓3 5 too high 19 
Business Directory Plugin – Easy Listing & Member Directories for WordPress 10K+ · 4.6★ (504)
wp.org #23 4 too low 20 
ECS – Ele Custom Skin for Elementor 100K+ · 4.6★ (117)
wp.org #18 2 too high 21 
FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410)
wp.org #21 ↑1 22 
Masteriyo LMS – LMS Course Builder, Quizzes & Certificates 6K+ · 4.8★ (184)
wp.org #24 2 too low 23 
Custom Fonts – Host Your Fonts Locally 400K+ · 4.3★ (62)
wp.org #17 ↓1 6 too high 24 Xpro Theme Builder For Elementor – FREE 20K+ · 5.0★ (14) thin reviews
wp.org #14 10 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.