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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “type”

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 “type”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Essential Content Types shows at wp.org #12 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 20K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.7★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI places #8 on merit, 4.8★ from 27821 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Custom Post Type UI 1M+ · 4.6★ (276) wp.org #1 ↑1 2 Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 Post Types Order 600K+ · 4.5★ (296) wp.org #3 4 Post Type Switcher 200K+ · 4.8★ (255) wp.org #4 ↑1 5 Custom Post Type Permalinks 200K+ · 4.8★ (71) wp.org #5 ↓1 6 Category AJAX Filter – Posts, Custom Post Types & Product Filter 6K+ · 4.9★ (158) wp.org #11 5 too low 7 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #18 ↓2 11 too low 8 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #21 13 too low 9 MB Custom Post Types & Custom Taxonomies 10K+ · 4.7★ (13) wp.org #6 3 too high 10 SVG Support 1M+ · 4.8★ (356) wp.org #17 7 too low 11 C Custom Post Type Widgets 10K+ · 4.8★ (14) wp.org #8 ↓1 3 too high 12 A Add MIME Types 50K+ · 4.2★ (25) wp.org #10 ↓1 2 too high 13 Post Type Transfer 2K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #7 ↑1 6 too high 14 File Upload Types by WPForms 40K+ · 4.0★ (20) wp.org #9 ↑1 5 too high 15 Gravity Forms + Custom Post Types 10K+ · 4.4★ (46) wp.org #20 ↓1 5 too low 16 Post Types Unlimited 10K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #14 ↑1 2 too high 17 Mime Types Plus 10K+ · 3.8★ (10) wp.org #13 4 too high 18 Type Attribute Warnings Removal 900+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too low 19 Movable Type and TypePad Importer 20K+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #15 ↓1 4 too high 20 Restrict WP Upload Type 300+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #22 ↓2 2 too low 21 Custom post type templates for Elementor 700+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #16 ↑1 5 too high 22 Essential Content Types 20K+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #12 10 too high 23 GamiPress – Emails By Type 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24 ↓2 1 too low 24 C Custom Post Type Rewrite 1K+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #23 ↓2 1 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.