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

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 “featured custom posts”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 of the top 20. 3 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 Related Posts shows at wp.org #12 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 3K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.9★ average from 46 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Custom Post Type UI 1M+ · 4.6★ (276) wp.org #1 ↑2 2

Simple Custom Post Order 300K+ · 4.8★ (588) wp.org #2 ↓1 3

Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418) wp.org #4 ↑2 1 too low 4

Duplicate Post 300K+ · 4.9★ (1623) wp.org #6 ↓1 2 too low 5

Featured Image from URL (FIFU) 60K+ · 4.6★ (264) wp.org #5 ↓3 6 N NS Featured Posts 4K+ · 4.8★ (29) wp.org #3 ↑4 3 too high 7

Quick Featured Images 50K+ · 4.7★ (235) wp.org #9 1 too low 9

Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) not PHP-currentheavy footprint wp.org #8 ↑2 1 too high 10

Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails 100K+ · 4.8★ (215) wp.org #11 1 too low 11

Default Featured Image 50K+ · 4.8★ (69) wp.org #10 ↓2 1 too high 12

Content Blocks (Custom Post Widget) 10K+ · 4.9★ (80) wp.org #20 ↓2 7 too low 14

SchedulePress – Auto Post & Publish, Auto Social Share, Schedule Posts with Editorial Calendar & Missed Schedule Post Publisher 10K+ · 4.6★ (201) wp.org #24 10 too low 15 F Featured Image Admin Thumb 20K+ · 4.7★ (40) wp.org #16 1 too low 16

Auto Featured Image (Auto Post Thumbnail) 40K+ · 3.8★ (119) not PHP-current wp.org #13 ↑7 3 too high 17

Conditionally display featured image on singular posts and pages 30K+ · 4.8★ (38) wp.org #17 18

Featured Images in RSS for Mailchimp & More 20K+ · 4.3★ (113) wp.org #22 3 too low 20

FSM Custom Featured Image Caption 5K+ · 4.6★ (22) thin reviews wp.org #15 ↓2 5 too high 21

Really Simple Featured Video for Posts, Pages & WooCommerce Products 4K+ · 4.0★ (34) wp.org #18 ↓3 3 too high 22

Skyboot Custom Icons for Elementor – Elementor Icons library – 14300+ Icons 200K+ · 5.0★ (22) thin reviews wp.org #23 ↑1 1 too low 23 C Custom Post Type Widgets 10K+ · 4.8★ (14) thin reviews wp.org #19 4 too high 24

WP Featured Posts 300+ · 4.3★ (3) 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.