wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “duplicate 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 “duplicate theme”, we and wp.org disagree 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
Clone / Duplicate Orders for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #12 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 11 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
WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups places #11 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.
Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4342)
wp.org #4 ↓2 3 too low 2 D Duplicate Menu 100K+ · 4.6★ (104)
wp.org #3 1 too low 3 
Duplicate Post – duplicate pages, copy content, clone posts 5K+ · 4.7★ (7) thin reviews
wp.org #1 ↑4 2 too high 4 
Theme Editor 50K+ · 4.6★ (128)
wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too low 5 
Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821)
wp.org #10 ↑3 5 too low 6 
WP Duplicate Page 60K+ · 4.2★ (16) thin reviews
wp.org #2 ↓1 4 too high 7 
LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778)
wp.org #8 ↑1 1 too low 8 
WP Rollback – Rollback Plugins and Themes 200K+ · 4.9★ (215)
wp.org #9 ↓1 1 too low 9 
WPvivid — Backup, Migration & Staging 900K+ · 4.9★ (1568)
wp.org #11 ↓1 2 too low 10 
Create Block Theme 20K+ · 4.8★ (38)
wp.org #6 4 too high 11 WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470)
wp.org #17 ↓1 6 too low 12 
Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4699)
wp.org #16 ↑5 4 too low 13 
Orbit Fox: Duplicate Page, Menu Icons, SVG Support, Cookie Notice, Custom Fonts & More 100K+ · 4.8★ (317)
wp.org #13 ↑4 14 
Toolkit for Polylang – Translation Inspector & Duplicate Content 10K+ · 4.5★ (33)
wp.org #7 7 too high 15 
Child Theme Configurator 300K+ · 4.7★ (280)
wp.org #15 16 
Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423)
wp.org #19 ↓1 3 too low 17 
TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667)
wp.org #21 ↓2 4 too low 18 
Supreme Modules Lite – Divi Theme, Extra Theme and Divi Builder 100K+ · 4.8★ (109)
wp.org #14 ↓2 4 too high 19 
Polylang 900K+ · 4.7★ (3004)
wp.org #22 ↑1 3 too low 20 
Easy Google Maps by Supsystic – Custom Markers, Clustering & Map Themes 20K+ · 4.6★ (251)
wp.org #20 21 
PublishPress Revisions: Duplicate Posts, Submit, Approve and Schedule Content Changes 10K+ · 4.6★ (66)
wp.org #18 ↑2 3 too high 22 
File Manager Pro – Filester 100K+ · 4.9★ (155)
wp.org #24 2 too low 23 Clone / Duplicate Orders for WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews
wp.org #12 ↑2 11 too high 24 
Quick Copy – Duplicate Posts & Pages 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews
wp.org #23 ↓1 1 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.