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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “clone themes”

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 themes”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 2 plugins are pushed down for signals wp.org ignores: errors, a host-installed base, or removal risk.

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 it throws errors on current PHP, whether the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Clone / Duplicate Orders for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #9 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Migrate Guru – Site Migration & Cloning places #6 on merit, 4.9★ from 1645 reviews, but shows at wp.org #13. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470) wp.org #1 2 Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4940) wp.org #2 ↑2 3 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #5 ↑1 2 too low 4 WPvivid — Backup, Migration & Staging 900K+ · 4.9★ (1568) wp.org #7 ↑3 3 too low 5 Clone 40K+ · 4.1★ (339) wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too low 6 Migrate Guru – Site Migration & Cloning 200K+ · 4.9★ (1645) wp.org #13 ↓5 7 too low 7 All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #11 4 too low 8 Clone Posts 10K+ · 4.3★ (22) wp.org #4 ↓2 4 too high 9 Export Themes 2K+ · 4.9★ (13) wp.org #3 6 too high 10 Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin 300K+ · 4.9★ (1281) wp.org #16 ↓1 6 too low 11 WPVibe – MCP Server for WordPress, works with Claude, ChatGPT & other AI MCP agents 100K+ · 5.0★ (195) wp.org #15 ↑1 4 too low 12 Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) wp.org #12 ↑1 13 Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528) wp.org #19 ↑5 6 too low 14 Create Block Theme 20K+ · 4.8★ (38) wp.org #10 ↓1 4 too high 15 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #14 ↓2 1 too high 16 Post Duplicator 200K+ · 4.8★ (80) wp.org #17 1 too low 17 NS Cloner – Site Cloner and Multisite Duplicator 6K+ · 4.7★ (279) wp.org #22 5 too low 18 BuddyPress 90K+ · 4.1★ (375) wp.org #24 ↓3 6 too low 19 Total Upkeep – WordPress Backup Plugin plus Restore & Migrate by BoldGrid 40K+ · 4.8★ (442) wp.org #20 ↓2 1 too low 20 1-Click WordPress Migration Plugin – Backup, Migrate & Clone 400+ · 4.5★ (40) wp.org #18 2 too high 21 Duplicate Post – duplicate pages, copy content, clone posts 5K+ · 4.7★ (7) wp.org #8 ↑6 13 too high 22 WP Duplicate Page 60K+ · 4.2★ (16) wp.org #21 ↓1 1 too high 23 Royal WordPress Backup, Restore & Migration Plugin – Backup WordPress Sites Safely 30K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #23 24 Clone / Duplicate Orders for WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #9 ↓2 15 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.