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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “dark ui”

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 “dark ui”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 16 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

DarkAdmin – Dark Mode for Adminpanel shows at wp.org #8 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 397 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Dark Mode – Improve Accessibility with AI Powered Dark Theme 20K+ · 4.5★ (391) wp.org #1 2 Dark Mode for WP Dashboard 3K+ · 4.8★ (34) wp.org #2 3 Rich Showcase for Google Reviews 100K+ · 4.9★ (1623) wp.org #7 4 too low 4 Darkify – Dark Mode & Night Mode for Website & Admin (Dark Theme Included) 1K+ · 4.7★ (27) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too high 5 AI Engine – MCP Server & AI Chatbot for WordPress, with Claude, ChatGPT & Gemini 90K+ · 4.9★ (874) wp.org #12 ↑1 7 too low 6 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #10 4 too low 7 Darklup – Enhanced WordPress Dark Mode, Dark Theme, Night Mode & Accessibility Plugin 1K+ · 4.5★ (44) wp.org #4 ↓1 3 too high 8 hCaptcha for WP 70K+ · 4.6★ (88) wp.org #13 ↓1 5 too low 9 Nextend Social Login and Register 200K+ · 4.9★ (446) wp.org #21 12 too low 10 Backup and Staging by WP Time Capsule 10K+ · 4.0★ (128) wp.org #14 4 too low 11 Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (397) wp.org #24 13 too low 12 Accessibility Widget by OneTap – Easy One-Click Accessibility Toolbar 60K+ · 4.9★ (80) wp.org #19 7 too low 13 FluentSnippets – High-Performance Code Snippets, Header & Footer Code, Custom CSS & PHP Code Manager 50K+ · 4.7★ (78) wp.org #18 5 too low 14 Adminify – White Label, Admin Menu Editor, Login Customizer 6K+ · 4.3★ (109) wp.org #17 3 too low 15 Dark Reader – Beautiful Dark Mode for any Website 200+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #5 10 too high 16 UiPress lite | Effortless custom dashboards, admin themes and pages 6K+ · 4.1★ (21) wp.org #22 6 too low 17 AboveWP Admin Dark Mode 90+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #6 11 too high 18 Canvas 9K+ · 4.1★ (8) wp.org #20 2 too low 19 Coming Soon Maintenance Mode 6K+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #15 4 too high 20 SVisciano – Light-Dark Theme Mode 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #11 9 too high 21 Browser Theme Color – Address Bar Color & Dark Mode 2K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 12 too high 22 Cal.com 2K+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #16 6 too high 23 Url Rewrite Analyzer 400+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #23 24 DarkAdmin – Dark Mode for Adminpanel 100+ · 3.0★ (1) wp.org #8 16 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.