wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “meta box”
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 “meta box”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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
Meta Keywords for Each Page shows at wp.org #10 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation places #10 on merit, 4.7★ from 1667 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.
Meta Box – A Framework for Dynamic Websites 500K+ · 4.8★ (165)
wp.org #1 2 
Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821)
wp.org #4 ↑2 2 too low 3 
Meta Field Block – Display Custom Fields for ACF, Meta Box and More 10K+ · 5.0★ (57) not PHP-current
wp.org #2 1 too high 4 
Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281)
wp.org #6 ↓1 2 too low 5 
Meta Tag Manager 70K+ · 4.8★ (84) not PHP-current
wp.org #3 2 too high 6 
Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) not PHP-currentheavy footprint
wp.org #7 ↑2 1 too low 7 
Import and export users and customers 70K+ · 4.7★ (259)
wp.org #9 ↓2 2 too low 8 
Head Meta Data 10K+ · 4.8★ (19) thin reviews
wp.org #5 ↓1 3 too high 9 
Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423)
wp.org #13 4 too low 10 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667)
wp.org #16 ↓2 6 too low 11 
Menu Icons by Themeisle – Add Icons to Navigation Menus 100K+ · 4.9★ (851)
wp.org #17 6 too low 12 
Disable Gutenberg 500K+ · 5.0★ (735)
wp.org #18 ↑1 6 too low 13 
Noptin – Newsletter, New Post Notifications & Email Automation 10K+ · 4.5★ (120) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #8 ↑3 5 too high 14 
Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) heavy footprint
wp.org #14 15 
The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461)
wp.org #20 ↑2 5 too low 16 
Public Post Preview 100K+ · 4.6★ (79)
wp.org #15 ↑1 1 too high 17 
Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) not PHP-current
wp.org #21 4 too low 18 
PixelYourSite – Your smart PIXEL (TAG) & API Manager 400K+ · 4.3★ (281)
wp.org #22 ↓7 4 too low 19 
Ocean Extra 400K+ · 3.3★ (67)
wp.org #11 ↓3 8 too high 20 
SureRank SEO – Meta Tags, Social Preview, XML Sitemap, Schema & Open Graph 300K+ · 4.8★ (51)
wp.org #23 ↓5 3 too low 21 
VS Meta Description 3K+ · 4.4★ (16) thin reviews
wp.org #12 9 too high 22 
Post Meta Data Manager 1K+ · 5.0★ (15) thin reviews
wp.org #24 ↓3 2 too low 23 Meta Keywords for Each Page 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews
wp.org #10 13 too high 24 
Cool Author Box – For Widget and Post Content 500+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews
wp.org #19 ↑1 5 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.