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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “parent 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 “parent theme”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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 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

No Category Parents shows at wp.org #8 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 6K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Max Mega Menu places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 882 reviews, but shows at wp.org #15. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Child Theme Wizard 10K+ · 4.9★ (36) wp.org #1 2 Theme Editor 50K+ · 4.6★ (128) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 Theme Switcha – Easily Switch Themes for Development and Testing 7K+ · 4.4★ (63) wp.org #4 ↓2 1 too low 4 WP Child Theme Generator 20K+ · 4.7★ (19) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too high 5 Child Theme Configurator 300K+ · 4.7★ (280) wp.org #9 4 too low 6 Create Block Theme 20K+ · 4.8★ (38) wp.org #6 7 Max Mega Menu 300K+ · 4.8★ (882) wp.org #15 8 too low 8 Easy Google Maps by Supsystic – Custom Markers, Clustering & Map Themes 20K+ · 4.6★ (251) wp.org #13 5 too low 9 Supreme Modules Lite – Divi Theme, Extra Theme and Divi Builder 200K+ · 4.8★ (109) wp.org #11 2 too low 10 Media Library Assistant 70K+ · 4.8★ (202) wp.org #16 6 too low 11 Generate Child Theme 9K+ · 4.3★ (15) wp.org #5 6 too high 12 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #17 ↑4 5 too low 13 WPVibe – MCP Server for WordPress, works with Claude, ChatGPT & other AI MCP agents 100K+ · 5.0★ (195) wp.org #19 6 too low 14 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #24 10 too low 15 Child Theme Check 700+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #7 8 too high 16 Category Order and Taxonomy Terms Order 500K+ · 4.5★ (162) wp.org #20 4 too low 17 Visual CSS Style Editor 30K+ · 4.1★ (90) wp.org #18 1 too low 18 bbPress 100K+ · 3.9★ (343) wp.org #22 4 too low 19 C Cryout Serious Theme Settings 40K+ · 4.3★ (16) wp.org #10 9 too high 20 Custom Permalinks 100K+ · 4.1★ (116) wp.org #21 ↓4 1 too low 21 No Category Parents 6K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #8 13 too high 22 Better Block Editor (BBE) 6K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #23 1 too low 23 Confirm Theme Structure 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #12 11 too high 24 Show Theme in Footer 90+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 10 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.