Secure Custom Fields

84 Quality Score

Active Installs

22/30

With 80,000 active installs, adoption is moderate and trails category leaders like ACF and Meta Box by a wide margin, suggesting it remains a niche pick.

Update Freshness

25/25

The plugin was last updated on July 2, 2026 and targets WordPress 7.0 with PHP 7.4 as the minimum, signalling very active upkeep.

User Rating

14/15

A 94 out of 100 from 63 reviewers is a strong score, though the small sample size means it carries less statistical weight than plugins with thousands of ratings.

Support Health

8/15

Only 3 support threads exist with 0 resolved, which is a meaningful red flag for anyone who may need help troubleshooting field or compatibility issues.

WP Compatibility

15/15

Full marks for compatibility, with explicit support up to WordPress 7.0 and a sensible PHP 7.4 baseline that matches most current hosting environments.

Scores higher than 94% of indexed plugins

About

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

Active Installs 90k+

Rating ★★★★½ 4.8/5

Last Updated 2026-08-20 11:45pm GMT

Requires WordPress 6.2+

Tested Up To 7.1

Requires PHP 7.4+

Security History

1 known vulnerability, all patched

1 Medium

Most recent: September 17, 2026

View details ▸

What It Does

Secure Custom Fields adds custom fields, custom meta boxes, and options pages to WordPress, giving editors structured input fields beyond the default title and content editor. It deliberately deactivates the original Advanced Custom Fields plugin on activation to prevent duplicate code conflicts, making it a drop-in replacement for sites that want ACF functionality without ACF's branding or commercial upsells.

Who It's For

This plugin suits developers and site builders who want the familiar ACF workflow and field types but prefer a community-maintained, GPL-licensed alternative without premium upgrade prompts. It is a good fit for membership sites, directories, and WooCommerce shops that need tailored meta boxes for custom post types and user profiles.

Who Should Skip It

If you already run Advanced Custom Fields Pro and depend on its premium add-ons such as Repeater, Options Pages Add-on, or ACF Blocks, you should skip this plugin since SCF does not bundle those commercial extensions. Sites with fewer than a handful of custom fields will get little benefit from installing it.

The Bottom Line

Secure Custom Fields earns an overall 83.56 out of 100 thanks to excellent maintenance and compatibility, but the zero resolved support threads and 80,000 installs leave it as a secondary option behind ACF. It is a reasonable choice for GPL-purists and ACF users who do not need Pro features, yet anyone relying on commercial add-ons or quick support will be better served by ACF or Meta Box.

Related Plugins

Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 94/100

Pick ACF when you need the Pro field types, the largest community, and the most third-party integrations available in the category.

Meta Box 87/100

Choose Meta Box if you want a lighter, developer-first toolkit with strong performance and a flexible extension library for custom post types.

Checkout Field Editor (Checkout Manager) for WooCommerce 87/100

Go with this plugin instead if your only need is adding or rearranging fields on the WooCommerce checkout page.

CMB2 87/100

Select CMB2 if you are a developer who prefers defining fields in code rather than through a graphical UI and wants full GitHub-driven development.

Pods - Custom Content Types and Fields 86/100

Pick Pods when you need to create full custom content types and taxonomies alongside fields in a single, integrated framework.