Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “theme color”

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 “theme color”, we and wp.org disagree 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Browser Theme Color – Address Bar Color & Dark Mode shows at wp.org #1 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Slider, Gallery, and Carousel by MetaSlider – Image Slider, Video Slider places #11 on merit, 4.6★ from 743 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Xpro Theme Builder For Elementor – FREE 20K+ · 5.0★ (14) wp.org #2 ↑1 1 too low 2 Variation Swatches for WooCommerce – Color, Image & Size Swatches 200K+ · 4.6★ (51) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too low 3 Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4699) wp.org #9 ↑3 6 too low 4 Create Block Theme 20K+ · 4.8★ (38) wp.org #4 ↑1 5 Fourteen Colors 8K+ · 4.8★ (48) wp.org #7 ↑1 2 too low 6 Child Theme Configurator 300K+ · 4.7★ (280) wp.org #12 ↑1 6 too low 7 Dark Mode – Improve Accessibility with AI Powered Dark Theme 20K+ · 4.5★ (391) wp.org #14 7 too low 8 Supreme Modules Lite – Divi Theme, Extra Theme and Divi Builder 100K+ · 4.8★ (109) wp.org #11 ↓1 3 too low 9 Variation Swatches for WooCommerce 300K+ · 4.8★ (926) wp.org #17 ↑7 8 too low 10 Maintenance 1M+ · 4.4★ (869) wp.org #13 ↑4 3 too low 11 Slider, Gallery, and Carousel by MetaSlider – Image Slider, Video Slider 500K+ · 4.6★ (743) wp.org #20 9 too low 12 Block Editor Colors 3K+ · 4.8★ (13) wp.org #8 ↑1 4 too high 13 WP Sticky Sidebar – Floating Sidebar On Scroll for Any Theme 10K+ · 4.9★ (153) wp.org #22 ↓1 9 too low 14 Visual CSS Style Editor 30K+ · 4.1★ (90) wp.org #15 1 too low 15 YITH Color and Label Variations for WooCommerce 9K+ · 3.6★ (22) wp.org #6 ↑1 9 too high 16 Browser Theme Color – Address Bar Color & Dark Mode 2K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #1 15 too high 17 Custom Highlight Color 900+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #5 ↑1 12 too high 18 Download Plugins and Themes in ZIP from Dashboard 30K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #16 2 too high 19 Darkify – Dark Mode & Night Mode for Website & Admin (Dark Theme Included) 1K+ · 4.7★ (29) wp.org #24 5 too low 20 Better Block Editor (BBE) 6K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #19 ↑4 1 too high 21 Variation Swatches for WooCommerce – Color & Image Swatches 500+ · 4.0★ (9) wp.org #18 3 too high 22 Browser Address Bar Color 300+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #10 ↑1 12 too high 23 Extendify 500K+ · 4.7★ (10) wp.org #23 ↓1 24 Editor Custom Color Palette 90+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #21 ↓3 3 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.