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← Rankings

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

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 “x custom”, 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

X-Currency – The Ultimate WooCommerce currency switcher for a smoother shopping experience shows at wp.org #8 but places #15 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.6★ average from 20 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

TablePress – Tables in WordPress made easy places #9 on merit, 5.0★ from 4625 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) wp.org #1 2 Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Simple Custom CSS and JS 600K+ · 4.4★ (104) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Custom Twitter Feeds – A Tweets Widget or X Feed Widget 100K+ · 4.8★ (401) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too low 5 Custom Sidebars – Dynamic Sidebar Classic Widget Area Manager 100K+ · 4.7★ (1028) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 ECS – Ele Custom Skin for Elementor 100K+ · 4.6★ (117) wp.org #4 ↑1 2 too high 7 Product Addons for Woocommerce – Product Options with Custom Fields 30K+ · 4.9★ (474) wp.org #9 2 too low 8 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #13 ↑4 5 too low 9 TablePress – Tables in WordPress made easy 600K+ · 5.0★ (4625) wp.org #16 7 too low 10 Advanced Custom Fields: Font Awesome Field 90K+ · 4.9★ (36) wp.org #7 3 too high 11 Custom Order Status Manager for WooCommerce 30K+ · 4.7★ (117) wp.org #11 ↓1 12 Use Any Font | Custom Font Uploader 200K+ · 4.7★ (1148) wp.org #19 7 too low 13 Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869) wp.org #22 9 too low 14 Real Custom Post Order: Create a custom order for your content 8K+ · 4.8★ (42) wp.org #10 ↑1 4 too high 15 X-Currency – The Ultimate WooCommerce currency switcher for a smoother shopping experience 1K+ · 4.6★ (20) wp.org #8 7 too high 16 Custom Login 10K+ · 3.6★ (97) wp.org #14 ↓1 2 too high 17 Contact Form X 300+ · 5.0★ (32) wp.org #17 ↓2 18 Custom Field Template 30K+ · 4.0★ (24) wp.org #12 6 too high 19 CodeKit – Custom Codes Editor 7K+ · 4.8★ (16) wp.org #15 ↓1 4 too high 20 Teydea Login Customizer – Custom Login Page, Branding & Styling 10K+ · 4.8★ (14) wp.org #24 ↓6 4 too low 21 Portfolio X 100+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #23 ↓2 2 too low 22 Autopost for X (formerly Autoshare for Twitter) 5K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #20 2 too high 23 Custom iFrame – Embed PDFs, Videos, and External Content in WordPress (Elementor & Gutenberg) 4K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #21 ↑1 2 too high 24 Jupiter X Core 70K+ · 1.9★ (9) wp.org #18 ↑5 6 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.