Best WordPress Custom Field Plugins in 2026

Data from WordPress.org Updated September 7, 2026 First published September 4, 2026 5 min read

Structured fields on posts and pages, with editors for the people filling them.

Custom field plugins let a post hold more than a title and a body: a price, a date, a map location, a repeating list. They are the standard way WordPress becomes a content system rather than a blog, and the choice mostly comes down to how the data is stored and queried.

Together these 10 plugins run on more than 2,880,000 active WordPress sites. Ranked from both WordPress.org orderings for "custom-fields", its tag listing and its search results.

On this page

Best for each measure
Quick comparison
The top 10
How to choose
Head-to-head
How this list is ranked
FAQ
Conclusion
Other rankings

Best Custom Field Plugin for each measure

One plugin per measure, taken from the same WordPress.org figures as the ranking. A measure with nothing behind it is left out rather than guessed.

Most installed: Advanced Custom Fields
2 million+, active installs reported by WordPress.org
Highest rated: Checkout Field Editor for WooCommerce
4.9 out of 5, from 1,056 reviews, counting only plugins with at least 50
Most reviewed: Advanced Custom Fields
1,438 reviews, the largest body of feedback behind a score
Most recently updated: Checkout Field Editor for WooCommerce
September 1, 2026, the latest release in this list
Longest established: Custom Field Template
September 4, 2008, first published on WordPress.org
Best with no paid version: Secure Custom Fields
90,000+, the highest placed plugin WordPress.org lists as a community plugin, with nothing sold on top
Best support record: Pods
23 of 23 resolved, recent threads on the WordPress.org support forum

Custom Field Plugins compared: rating, reviews, installs

#	Plugin	Rating	Reviews	Active installs
1	Advanced Custom Fields	4.5	1,438	2 million+
2	Pods	4.8	418	100,000+
3	Secure Custom Fields	4.8	64	90,000+
4	Extended	4.8	132	100,000+
5	Smart Custom Fields	4.9	20	50,000+
6	Flexible Checkout Fields	4.7	295	80,000+
7	Checkout Field Editor for WooCommerce	4.9	1,056	400,000+
8	WCK	4.7	97	10,000+
9	Custom Field Template	4.0	24	30,000+
10	PPOM	4.5	282	20,000+

The 10 best Custom Field Plugins, ranked by WordPress.org

Ranked from both WordPress.org orderings for "custom-fields", its tag listing and its search results. Arrows show movement against the previous snapshot.

1.Advanced Custom Fields

Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®)

4.5 (1,438) 2 million+ active installs Updated Aug 27, 2026 Tested up to 7.1

ACF helps customize WordPress with powerful, professional and intuitive fields. Proudly powering over 2 million sites, WordPress developers love ACF.

Stats and rankings WordPress.org Website
2.Pods

Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields

4.8 (418) 100,000+ active installs Updated Aug 31, 2026 Tested up to 7.1

Pods is a framework for creating, managing, and deploying customized content types and fields for any project.

Stats and rankings WordPress.org Website
3.Secure Custom Fields

4.8 (64) 90,000+ active installs Updated Aug 20, 2026 Tested up to 7.1

Secure Custom Fields boosts content management with custom fields and options. It deactivates Advanced Custom Fields to prevent duplicate code errors.

Stats and rankings WordPress.org Website
4.Extended

Advanced Custom Fields: Extended

4.8 (132) 100,000+ active installs Updated Aug 27, 2026 Tested up to 7.1

All-in-one enhancement suite that improves WordPress & Advanced Custom Fields.

Stats and rankings WordPress.org Website
5.Smart Custom Fields

4.9 (20) 50,000+ active installs Updated Jul 16, 2026 Tested up to 6.8.8

Smart Custom Fields is a simple plugin for managing custom fields.

Stats and rankings WordPress.org Website
6.Flexible Checkout Fields

Flexible Checkout Fields for WooCommerce – WooCommerce Checkout Manager

4.7 (295) 80,000+ active installs Updated Aug 19, 2026 Tested up to 7.1 Paid version available

The best WooCommerce checkout manager. Edit, remove or add checkout fields. Customize WooCommerce checkout with this checkout field customizer.

Stats and rankings WordPress.org Website
7.Checkout Field Editor for WooCommerce

Checkout Field Editor (Checkout Manager) for WooCommerce

4.9 (1,056) 400,000+ active installs Updated Sep 1, 2026 Tested up to 7.1 Paid version available

Checkout Field Editor (Checkout Manager) for WooCommerce – The best WooCommerce checkout manager plugin to manage WooCommerce checkout fields.

Stats and rankings WordPress.org Website
8.WCK

Custom Post Types and Custom Fields creator – WCK

4.7 (97) 10,000+ active installs Updated Jul 15, 2026 Tested up to 7.0.4

A must have tool for creating custom fields, custom post types and taxonomies, fast and without any programming knowledge.

Stats and rankings WordPress.org
9.Custom Field Template

4.0 (24) 30,000+ active installs Updated Aug 11, 2026 Tested up to 7.0.4

The Custom Field Template plugin extends the functionality of custom fields.

Stats and rankings WordPress.org Website
10.PPOM

PPOM – Product Addons & Custom Fields for WooCommerce

4.5 (282) 20,000+ active installs Updated Aug 20, 2026 Tested up to 7.1

Easily add a range of custom fields to WooCommerce products, from text boxes to date selectors, allowing customers to personalize their orders.

Stats and rankings WordPress.org Website

How to choose a Custom Field Plugin for WordPress

1
Think about how you will query it later
Fields are easy to add and harder to filter by. If you need to list posts by a field value, check the plugin supports that before you fill a thousand posts.
2
Repeating groups are the dividing line
A single text box is trivial. Repeatable rows, nested groups and flexible layouts are where plugins differ and where paid tiers start.
3
Define fields in code where you can
Field definitions stored only in the database do not travel between staging and production. Exportable or code-defined fields save that pain.
4
Ask what happens to the data if the plugin goes
Values usually survive in post meta, but the editing interface does not. That is acceptable; losing the values is not.

Custom Field Plugin comparisons: side by side

The top four against each other on installs, ratings, reviews and updates. Each measure names its own leader; there is no overall winner.

How we rank Custom Field Plugins

WordPress.org publishes two orderings for "custom-fields" and neither is reliable alone. The tag listing covers every tag the directory files these plugins under, "custom-fields", "custom-field", "fields", "meta-fields" and "meta-box", and is sorted by active installs, which lets a large plugin carrying one of them loosely sit above the ones the category is about. Its search results are sorted by relevance and carry their own noise. So a plugin is placed here by where it sits across both lists: high in each one lifts it, high in only one does not. We fetch both every day at 03:00 UTC, keep every day's snapshot, and add nothing of our own. No plugin is inserted, removed or sponsored, and each entry shows its position in both lists on its own page. Full methodology.

Custom Field Plugins FAQ

What is the best Custom Field Plugin for WordPress?

On WordPress.org's own ranking for "custom-fields", Advanced Custom Fields is #1 as of September 7, 2026, with 2 million+ active installs and a 4.5 out of 5 rating. By rating, Checkout Field Editor for WooCommerce scores 4.9 out of 5 from 1,056 reviews.

Which Custom Field Plugin has the most active installs?

Advanced Custom Fields, with 2 million+ active installs reported by WordPress.org as of September 7, 2026. It ranks #1 in this list.

Which Custom Field Plugin has the highest rating?

Checkout Field Editor for WooCommerce, rated 4.9 out of 5 by 1,056 reviewers on WordPress.org. Only plugins with at least 50 reviews are counted, so a single 5-star review does not win.

Which Custom Field Plugin was updated most recently?

Checkout Field Editor for WooCommerce shipped its latest release on September 1, 2026. 10 of the 10 plugins in this list were updated in the last 90 days, which is the usual sign of active maintenance.

How many Custom Field Plugins are there on WordPress.org?

WordPress.org lists 440 plugins tagged "custom-fields", "custom-field", "fields", "meta-fields" and "meta-box" as of September 7, 2026. This page shows the top 10 in the directory's own order.

Are these Custom Field Plugins free?

All 10 are free to install from WordPress.org. 2 of them are listed as commercial, meaning the developer sells a paid version or add-ons: Flexible Checkout Fields, Checkout Field Editor for WooCommerce.

What happens to my data if I remove a Custom Field Plugin?

The values normally stay, because most of these plugins write to the standard WordPress post meta table. What you lose is the editing interface and, if you used the plugin's own display functions, the front-end output. Check the storage format before choosing: a plugin that serialises everything into one row is much harder to leave.

Do custom fields slow down a site?

Adding fields does not. Querying by them can, because WordPress stores meta in a separate table and filtering across it does not scale as well as a proper column or taxonomy. For a few hundred posts it is irrelevant; for tens of thousands, plan the queries before the fields.

Custom Field Plugins: the bottom line

As of September 7, 2026, Advanced Custom Fields holds the #1 spot for "custom-fields" on WordPress.org, followed by Pods and Secure Custom Fields. If install base matters most, Advanced Custom Fields leads with 2 million+ active installs. If ratings matter most, Checkout Field Editor for WooCommerce scores 4.9 out of 5 across 1,056 reviews.