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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “meta boxes”

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 boxes”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

PixTypes shows at wp.org #10 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 9K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 2.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 2051 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Meta Box – A Framework for Dynamic Websites 500K+ · 4.8★ (165) wp.org #1 2 Classic Editor 8M+ · 4.9★ (1251) wp.org #2 3 Disable Gutenberg 500K+ · 5.0★ (735) wp.org #3 4 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #4 5 User Role Editor 700K+ · 4.5★ (288) wp.org #5 ↑1 6 Molongui Authorship – Author Boxes, Guest Authors & Co-Authors for WordPress 10K+ · 4.7★ (158) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 Cool Flipbox – Shortcode & Gutenberg Block 5K+ · 4.8★ (103) wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too high 8 Nav Menu Roles 70K+ · 4.9★ (219) wp.org #15 ↑6 7 too low 9 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #20 ↑2 11 too low 10 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #18 8 too low 11 Shortcodes Ultimate – Content Elements 400K+ · 4.9★ (5925) wp.org #19 ↑4 8 too low 12 My WP Customize Admin/Frontend 8K+ · 4.3★ (16) wp.org #8 4 too high 13 CMB2 300K+ · 5.0★ (91) wp.org #14 1 too low 14 MB Custom Post Types & Custom Taxonomies 10K+ · 4.7★ (13) wp.org #11 3 too high 15 Custom Post Types and Custom Fields creator – WCK 10K+ · 4.7★ (97) wp.org #16 1 too low 16 WP Custom Admin Interface 30K+ · 4.7★ (160) wp.org #22 ↓5 6 too low 17 Classic Editor and Classic Widgets 20K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #9 ↑1 8 too high 18 Pure Metafields 10K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #13 ↑2 5 too high 19 C Custom Metadata Manager 700+ · 4.4★ (5) wp.org #12 7 too high 20 Ultimate Markdown – Markdown Editor, Importer, & Exporter 2K+ · 4.0★ (10) wp.org #24 ↓4 4 too low 21 C CMB2 Admin Extension 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #17 ↑2 4 too high 22 noindex SEO 3K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #21 ↓3 1 too high 23 Dynamic Fields Engine – Custom post types, Custom fields, Meta fields, Taxonomies, Listing builder, Query builder and Relations 3K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 24 PixTypes 9K+ · 2.0★ (2) wp.org #10 ↓1 14 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.