wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “recent 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 “recent custom posts”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20.

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 Post Type Widgets shows at wp.org #6 but places #13 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.8★ average from 14 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 #7 on merit, 4.7★ from 1511 reviews, but shows at wp.org #11. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails 100K+ · 4.8★ (215) wp.org #1 2

Simple Custom Post Order 300K+ · 4.8★ (587) wp.org #2 3

Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #4 1 too low 4

Simple Custom CSS and JS 600K+ · 4.4★ (104) wp.org #3 1 too high 5

Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #9 3 too low 7

Smash Balloon Social Post Feed – Simple Social Feeds for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (1511) wp.org #11 ↓1 4 too low 8

Category Posts Block 40K+ · 4.5★ (79) wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too high 9

Custom Twitter Feeds – A Tweets Widget or X Feed Widget 100K+ · 4.8★ (401) wp.org #13 ↓2 4 too low 10

Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) heavy footprint wp.org #12 2 too low 11

ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #14 ↑2 3 too low 12

Category Posts in Custom Menu 2K+ · 4.8★ (43) wp.org #8 ↓1 4 too high 13 C Custom Post Type Widgets 10K+ · 4.8★ (14) thin reviews wp.org #6 ↓1 7 too high 14

Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528) wp.org #18 ↓5 4 too low 15

The Post Grid – Shortcode, Gutenberg Blocks and Elementor Addon for Post Grid 100K+ · 4.8★ (265) wp.org #21 ↓1 6 too low 16

Site Kit by Google – Analytics, Search Console, AdSense, Speed 5M+ · 4.2★ (1012) wp.org #17 1 too low 17

Hide Posts 20K+ · 4.7★ (22) thin reviews wp.org #10 ↓2 7 too high 18

Ultimate Post Kit – Elementor Post Grid, Post Carousel, Post Slider & Blog Layout Widgets 30K+ · 4.8★ (58) wp.org #16 ↓1 2 too high 19

Post Slider and Post Carousel with Post Vertical Scrolling Widget – A Responsive Post Slider 10K+ · 4.7★ (31) wp.org #20 ↓1 1 too low 20

Custom Layouts – Post + Product grids made easy 3K+ · 5.0★ (25) wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too high 21

Custom Contact Forms 6K+ · 3.5★ (171) wp.org #22 ↓1 1 too low 22

Magical Posts Display – Elementor Advanced Posts widgets 3K+ · 4.4★ (10) thin reviews wp.org #15 ↓1 7 too high 23

Post List Designer – Category Post, Recent Post, Post List 1K+ · 4.5★ (8) thin reviews wp.org #23 ↓1 24

GS Posts Grid – Recent Posts, Category Posts, Post Filter, Slider & List 100+ · 4.2★ (5) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #24 ↓1

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.