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

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 sidebar”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

SMK Sidebar Generator shows at wp.org #10 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.4★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Smash Balloon Social Post Feed – Simple Social Feeds for WordPress places #12 on merit, 4.7★ from 1511 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. 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 2

Custom Sidebars – Dynamic Sidebar Classic Widget Area Manager 100K+ · 4.7★ (1028) wp.org #2 ↓1 3

Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418) wp.org #6 ↓1 3 too low 4

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

ECS – Ele Custom Skin for Elementor 100K+ · 4.6★ (117) wp.org #8 ↑3 3 too low 6

Ocean Custom Sidebar 20K+ · 5.0★ (8) thin reviews wp.org #3 ↓1 3 too high 7

Sidebar Login 9K+ · 4.5★ (78) wp.org #7 8

Lightweight Sidebar Manager 80K+ · 4.2★ (21) thin reviews wp.org #4 4 too high 9

WP Sticky Sidebar – Floating Sidebar On Scroll for Any Theme 10K+ · 4.9★ (153) wp.org #12 3 too low 10

Secure Custom Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (69) heavy footprint wp.org #9 ↓2 1 too high 11

Content Aware Sidebars – Fastest Widget Area Plugin 30K+ · 4.9★ (724) not PHP-current wp.org #15 ↑7 4 too low 12

Smash Balloon Social Post Feed – Simple Social Feeds for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (1511) wp.org #22 ↓4 10 too low 13

Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) not PHP-currentheavy footprint wp.org #14 1 too low 14

Advanced Sidebar Menu 10K+ · 4.5★ (37) wp.org #11 ↓2 3 too high 15

Content Blocks (Custom Post Widget) 10K+ · 4.9★ (80) wp.org #18 ↓2 3 too low 16

List Custom Taxonomy Widget 8K+ · 4.7★ (21) thin reviews wp.org #13 ↓3 3 too high 17

Advanced Custom Fields: Font Awesome Field 90K+ · 4.9★ (36) wp.org #19 ↓6 2 too low 18

WP Custom Admin Interface 30K+ · 4.7★ (160) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #20 ↓3 2 too low 19

SMK Sidebar Generator 10K+ · 4.4★ (5) thin reviews wp.org #10 ↓2 10 too high 21

Custom iFrame – Embed PDFs, Videos, and External Content in WordPress (Elementor & Gutenberg) 4K+ · 5.0★ (5) thin reviews wp.org #23 ↓4 2 too low 22 S Shortcodes in Sidebar 400+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #16 ↓1 6 too high 23

Custom Icons for Elementor and WPBakery 10K+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #17 6 too high 24

Custom Sidebars by ProteusThemes 1K+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #21 3 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.