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

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 preview”, 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

Wikipedia Preview shows at wp.org #11 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 5 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.8★ average from 37 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI places #9 on merit, 4.8★ from 27821 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

Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #2 3

Simple Custom Post Order 300K+ · 4.8★ (588) wp.org #4 1 too low 4

Custom Permalinks 100K+ · 4.1★ (116) wp.org #3 1 too high 5

Preview E-mails for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.9★ (85) wp.org #7 2 too low 6

Custom Sidebars – Dynamic Sidebar Classic Widget Area Manager 100K+ · 4.7★ (1028) wp.org #12 ↓1 6 too low 7

Visual Link Preview 10K+ · 4.5★ (36) wp.org #5 ↑1 2 too high 8

ECS – Ele Custom Skin for Elementor 100K+ · 4.6★ (117) wp.org #8 ↑6 9

Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #16 ↑1 7 too low 10

Custom Fonts – Host Your Fonts Locally 400K+ · 4.3★ (62) wp.org #6 ↑2 4 too high 11

WPCode – Insert Headers and Footers + Custom Code Snippets – WordPress Code Manager 3M+ · 4.9★ (1916) wp.org #14 ↑1 3 too low 12

Secure Custom Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (69) heavy footprint wp.org #9 ↑4 3 too high 13

Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) not PHP-current wp.org #10 ↓5 3 too high 14

Social Preview and Open Graph Tags 50K+ · 4.6★ (122) wp.org #13 ↓1 1 too high 15

Custom Twitter Feeds – A Tweets Widget or X Feed Widget 100K+ · 4.8★ (401) wp.org #18 ↑2 3 too low 16

Wikipedia Preview 1K+ · 4.8★ (37) wp.org #11 ↓2 5 too high 17

Skyboot Custom Icons for Elementor – Elementor Icons library – 14300+ Icons 200K+ · 5.0★ (22) thin reviews wp.org #15 ↓5 2 too high 18

Advanced Custom Fields: Font Awesome Field 90K+ · 4.9★ (36) wp.org #24 6 too low 19

List Custom Taxonomy Widget 8K+ · 4.7★ (21) thin reviews wp.org #19 ↓1 20

Custom Post Types and Custom Fields creator – WCK 10K+ · 4.7★ (97) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #21 ↑1 1 too low 21

Custom Field Template 30K+ · 4.0★ (24) thin reviews wp.org #17 ↓1 4 too high 22

Custom CSS Pro 7K+ · 5.0★ (15) thin reviews wp.org #22 ↓1 23

CodeKit – Custom Codes Editor 7K+ · 4.8★ (16) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #23 24

Flexible Layout Preview Image for ACF 800+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #20 ↓1 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.