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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “admin color”

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 “admin color”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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

Image Placeholders shows at wp.org #12 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 60K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.5★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Admin Custom Login places #5 on merit, 4.6★ from 388 reviews, but shows at wp.org #9. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Admin Columns 100K+ · 4.9★ (1652) wp.org #1 ↑1 2 Admin Menu Editor 300K+ · 4.6★ (312) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too low 3 Disable Admin Notices – Hide Dashboard Notifications 100K+ · 4.7★ (367) wp.org #5 ↑1 2 too low 4 Default Admin Color Scheme 800+ · 4.7★ (9) wp.org #2 ↑1 2 too high 5 Admin Custom Login 10K+ · 4.6★ (388) wp.org #9 ↑1 4 too low 6 Variation Swatches for WooCommerce – Color, Image & Size Swatches 200K+ · 4.6★ (51) wp.org #6 ↑1 7 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #7 ↑1 8 WP Custom Admin Interface 30K+ · 4.7★ (160) wp.org #11 ↑1 3 too low 9 Contextual Adminbar Color 500+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #4 ↑1 5 too high 10 Admin Bar Editor – Toolbar Customization with User Role based access & Custom menus 3K+ · 4.4★ (24) wp.org #8 ↑1 2 too high 11 WP Content Copy Protection with Color Design 5K+ · 4.5★ (25) wp.org #10 ↑1 1 too high 12 Admin Columns for ACF Fields 9K+ · 4.9★ (20) wp.org #13 ↑1 1 too low 13 Add Admin CSS 10K+ · 4.9★ (35) wp.org #20 7 too low 14 All In One Login 60K+ · 3.6★ (35) wp.org #15 1 too low 15 White Label – WordPress Custom Admin, Custom Login Page, and Custom Dashboard 10K+ · 5.0★ (21) wp.org #23 ↑1 8 too low 16 Admin Search 1K+ · 4.5★ (18) wp.org #16 ↑1 17 Protect WP Admin 10K+ · 3.6★ (50) wp.org #22 ↑1 5 too low 18 Church Admin 900+ · 4.7★ (17) wp.org #21 ↑1 3 too low 19 Admin Help Docs 600+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #19 ↑2 20 Customize Admin 3K+ · 3.6★ (5) wp.org #17 ↑1 3 too high 21 Colored Admin Post List 400+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 Force Admin Color Scheme 500+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #18 ↑1 4 too high 23 Restore Old Admin Colors 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 ↑2 9 too high 24 Image Placeholders 60K+ · 3.5★ (2) wp.org #12 ↑1 12 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.