85
Secure Custom Fields
The ACF Pro killer with a questionable origin story.
HealthyGrowing
85/100
Users love the free Pro features. The controversial repository takeover creates some ethical doubt.
Active installs
~85,000
our estimate · wp.org shows 80k+
Rating
4.7★
61 ratings
Trend · vs a year ago
+136%
Growing fast
351 → 830 installs/day
What to watch out for
- MINORreview volume down 64% vs prior 6mo
Downloads over time
real new installs per day · release spikes shown separately from the trend2025-04-302025-08-082025-11-162026-02-232026-06-03
organicrelease spikerelease tailorganic trend · 14d rolling median
Growing fast · +136% in the last year
351/day a year ago→830/day today
Reviews
what people actually saySecure Custom Fields is a WordPress.org-maintained fork of ACF that users broadly welcome for unlocking advanced custom field features for free, though its origins — taking over the ACF plugin repository rather than forking it cleanly — remain a point of controversy for at least one critic.
What people like
- +Unlocks features previously requiring a paid ACF Pro license, such as Repeater Fields and Options Pages, at no cost×5
- +Integrates smoothly with WordPress workflows and third-party tools like Elementor×2
- +Described as lightweight and not slowing down sites×2
- +Maintained and backed by WordPress.org, seen as a trustworthy open-source steward×3
Common complaints
- −Plugin originated by taking over the ACF repository rather than creating a proper fork, which users found ethically problematic
- −Accused of inheriting ACF's positive review history and later removing negative reviews left by critics of the takeover
Review trustReviews look organic
- 4.69★Verified rating — holds steady vs the raw 4.70★
- 16%One-shot reviewers — most reviewers are active community members
Reviews per month · 5★ vs lower
2024-12-112025-09-072026-06-04
5★ reviews1–4★ reviews
All-time ratings · 61 total
Latest reviews · 61 analyzed
- 2026-05-16★★★★★Great pluginhfaridul
- 2026-04-12★★★★★Most needed plugin.Usman Ahmed
- 2026-02-27★★★★★Excellent pluginsibony88
- 2026-02-08★★★★★do not use this plugincreatescape
- 2025-12-19★★★★★Great forkboykottke1-shot
- 2025-12-05★★★★★Thank youkoqpe
- 2025-11-18★★★★★Best alternative to ACFbusingebrian
- 2025-10-22★★★★★Finally a custom fields plugin by WordPress!S3nd41
- 2025-09-25★★★★★Fantastic plugin and totally freeshaunbowen
- 2025-09-23★★★★★CCT in SCFMoLy
Releases
recent versions from WordPress.org SVNFor developers & the curious
the raw signals behind the grade — none of this is on the friendly summary aboveDownload signals
Baselines are computed on organic days only — release spikes and their tails are excluded, so they're not inflated by the auto-update wave.
1,021
Baseline · median of last 7 organic days
1,007
Prior 7-day baseline
1,080
Floor · 25th percentile over 14 days
10,198
Mean release-day peak (30d)
1,505
Latest day · 2026-06-03(organic)
+1.4%
Week-over-week organic trend
Review signals
Concentration and drive-by metrics drive the review-burst and fake-review flags. 30–40% solo reviewers is normal; we only flag the extremes.
18%
Max month share · biggest single 30-day window
0.98
Distribution CV · <0.6 even, >1.5 bursty
93%
5★ share in analyzed sample
16%
Solo reviewers · only this one wp.org activity
-64%
Volume velocity · last 6mo vs prior 6mo
4.74 → 4.69★
Sample avg · raw → solo-filtered