wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “copy theme”
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 “copy theme”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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
Click To Copy – Copy Text or Code to Clipboard Instantly shows at wp.org #7 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 900+ 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
WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups places #9 on merit, 4.8★ from 2470 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click 100K+ · 4.8★ (1139)
wp.org #1 2 
Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4342)
wp.org #4 ↓2 2 too low 3 
Copy Anything to Clipboard for WordPress – Copy Button, Copy Text & Copy Code 10K+ · 4.5★ (36)
wp.org #2 ↑2 1 too high 4 
Secure Copy Content Protection and Content Locking 20K+ · 4.3★ (62)
wp.org #3 ↑2 1 too high 5 
Theme Check 20K+ · 4.8★ (195)
wp.org #5 ↑1 6 
Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4940)
wp.org #12 6 too low 7 
LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778)
wp.org #11 4 too low 8 
Theme Switcha – Easily Switch Themes for Development and Testing 7K+ · 4.4★ (63)
wp.org #6 ↓3 2 too high 9 WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470)
wp.org #17 ↓1 8 too low 10 
UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8708)
wp.org #16 ↓3 6 too low 11 
Create Block Theme 20K+ · 4.8★ (38)
wp.org #8 ↑2 3 too high 12 
Migrate Guru – Site Migration & Cloning 200K+ · 4.9★ (1644)
wp.org #20 ↓2 8 too low 13 
Child Theme Wizard 10K+ · 4.9★ (36)
wp.org #9 ↓1 4 too high 14 
Child Theme Configurator 300K+ · 4.7★ (280)
wp.org #14 15 
Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528)
wp.org #24 9 too low 16 
Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510)
wp.org #18 ↓3 2 too low 17 
WPVibe – MCP Server for WordPress, works with Claude, ChatGPT & other AI MCP agents 100K+ · 5.0★ (199)
wp.org #23 6 too low 18 
Generate Child Theme 9K+ · 4.3★ (15) thin reviews
wp.org #10 ↓1 8 too high 19 
Download Plugins and Themes in ZIP from Dashboard 30K+ · 4.9★ (27)
wp.org #19 ↓2 20 
Disable Right Click RB – Content Copy Protection, Prevent Copy & No Right Click 600+ · 4.2★ (14) thin reviews
wp.org #15 5 too high 21 
Export Themes 2K+ · 4.9★ (13) thin reviews
wp.org #21 22 
Duplicate Post – duplicate pages, copy content, clone posts 5K+ · 4.7★ (7) thin reviews
wp.org #13 ↑7 9 too high 23 Click To Copy – Copy Text or Code to Clipboard Instantly 900+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews
wp.org #7 16 too high 24 
Quick Copy – Duplicate Posts & Pages 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews
wp.org #22 2 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.