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← Rankings

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

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 “go dark”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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 #12 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 12 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

Joinchat – Enhanced “click to chat” places #10 on merit, 4.7★ from 189 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 Darkify – Dark Mode & Night Mode for Website & Admin (Dark Theme Included) 1K+ · 4.7★ (27) wp.org #3 ↑2 4 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #7 ↑1 3 too low 5 DarkLooks – Dark Mode Switcher For WordPress 800+ · 4.8★ (16) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too high 6 Darklup – Enhanced WordPress Dark Mode, Dark Theme, Night Mode & Accessibility Plugin 1K+ · 4.5★ (44) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too high 7 ECS – Ele Custom Skin for Elementor 100K+ · 4.6★ (117) wp.org #13 6 too low 8 Backup and Staging by WP Time Capsule 10K+ · 4.0★ (128) wp.org #15 7 too low 9 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #20 11 too low 10 Joinchat – Enhanced “click to chat” 700K+ · 4.7★ (189) wp.org #24 ↓3 14 too low 11 Dark Reader – Beautiful Dark Mode for any Website 200+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #6 5 too high 12 Code Block Pro – Beautiful Syntax Highlighting 10K+ · 4.8★ (50) wp.org #22 10 too low 13 Joli Table Of Contents – Table of Contents with Gutenberg Block & Shortcode 7K+ · 4.9★ (43) wp.org #23 10 too low 14 Known Agents – Track AI Bots and Crawlers, Block Scrapers, Analyze LLM Referral Traffic 1K+ · 4.8★ (6) wp.org #9 ↑1 5 too high 15 DarkMySite – Advanced Dark Mode Plugin for WordPress 900+ · 4.7★ (14) wp.org #19 ↑1 4 too low 16 Double Youpï Refined Admin Dashboard – Admin Theme with Dark Mode & Media Folders 70+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #18 2 too low 17 AboveWP Admin Dark Mode 90+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #8 ↑1 9 too high 18 Dark Mode for Elementor – Global colors mapping 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 ↑6 8 too high 19 SVisciano – Light-Dark Theme Mode 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #17 ↑1 2 too high 20 Onyx Dark Mode Switcher 300+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 6 too high 21 Browser Theme Color – Address Bar Color & Dark Mode 2K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 10 too high 22 G Go Dark 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↑1 6 too high 23 Mawu Dark Mode for the Admin Dashboard, Editor & Website 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↓2 2 too high 24 DarkAdmin – Dark Mode for Adminpanel 100+ · 3.0★ (1) wp.org #12 12 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.