wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “clone taxonomy”
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 “clone taxonomy”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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
Royal MCP – Secure AI Connector for Claude, ChatGPT & any LLM via MCP shows at wp.org #11 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 7 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
Custom Sidebars – Dynamic Sidebar Classic Widget Area Manager places #12 on merit, 4.7★ from 1028 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440)
wp.org #1 2 
Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281)
wp.org #5 ↓2 3 too low 3 
Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612)
wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too low 4 
Post Duplicator 200K+ · 4.8★ (80)
wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too high 5 
NS Cloner – Site Cloner and Multisite Duplicator 6K+ · 4.7★ (279)
wp.org #6 ↑1 1 too low 6 
User Profile Builder – Beautiful User Registration Forms, User Profiles & User Role Editor 40K+ · 4.7★ (738)
wp.org #10 ↑2 4 too low 7 
Meta Box – A Framework for Dynamic Websites 500K+ · 4.8★ (165)
wp.org #7 ↑1 8 
Advanced Custom Fields: Extended 100K+ · 4.8★ (132)
wp.org #8 ↑2 9 
Duplicate Post – duplicate pages, copy content, clone posts 5K+ · 4.7★ (7) thin reviews
wp.org #2 ↑2 7 too high 10 
Woody Code Snippets – Insert PHP, CSS, JS, and Header/Footer Scripts 50K+ · 4.5★ (221)
wp.org #13 ↑5 3 too low 11 
Category AJAX Filter – Posts, Custom Post Types & Product Filter 6K+ · 4.9★ (158)
wp.org #14 ↓1 3 too low 12 Custom Sidebars – Dynamic Sidebar Classic Widget Area Manager 100K+ · 4.7★ (1028)
wp.org #21 9 too low 13 
Dynific Addons for Elementor (formerly Anywhere Elementor) 70K+ · 4.8★ (104)
wp.org #15 ↓1 2 too low 14 
Duplicate Page and Post 70K+ · 4.6★ (29)
wp.org #9 5 too high 15 
Better Find and Replace – AI-Powered Suggestions 40K+ · 4.6★ (171)
wp.org #17 ↑3 2 too low 16 
Secure Custom Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (69)
wp.org #18 ↓3 2 too low 17 
WP Ultimate Post Grid 4K+ · 4.4★ (32)
wp.org #12 ↓1 5 too high 18 
Waymark 900+ · 5.0★ (54)
wp.org #23 5 too low 19 
WP EXtra – One Click Optimize 6K+ · 4.9★ (41)
wp.org #22 3 too low 20 Royal MCP – Secure AI Connector for Claude, ChatGPT & any LLM via MCP 10K+ · 5.0★ (7) thin reviews
wp.org #11 ↓5 9 too high 21 
Post Type Transfer 2K+ · 5.0★ (7) thin reviews
wp.org #16 ↑1 5 too high 22 
InstaWP Connect – 1-click WP Staging & Migration 40K+ · 4.5★ (12) thin reviews
wp.org #20 ↓1 2 too high 23 
Enterra Quick Clone 10+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews
wp.org #19 ↓3 4 too high 24 
Quick Copy – Duplicate Posts & Pages 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews
wp.org #24 ↓3 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.