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← Rankings

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

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 content”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

Passster – Password Protect Pages and Content shows at wp.org #13 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.2★ average from 60 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click places #9 on merit, 4.8★ from 1138 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 Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418) wp.org #2 ↓1 1 too low 2 Xpro Theme Builder For Elementor – FREE 20K+ · 5.0★ (14) wp.org #1 ↑1 1 too high 3 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) wp.org #3 4 Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4342) wp.org #4 5 Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 Content Views – Post Grid & Filter (Shortcode, Blocks, Elementor Widgets) 100K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #7 ↑3 1 too low 7 Theme My Login 50K+ · 3.7★ (460) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 Theme Switcha – Easily Switch Themes for Development and Testing 7K+ · 4.4★ (63) wp.org #5 3 too high 9 WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click 100K+ · 4.8★ (1138) wp.org #15 ↓2 6 too low 10 Theme Editor 50K+ · 4.6★ (128) wp.org #10 ↑1 11 Table of Contents Plus – Automatic Table of Contents for Posts & Pages 200K+ · 4.5★ (187) wp.org #11 ↑7 12 Content Control – The Ultimate Content Restriction Solution! Restrict Content, Create Conditional Blocks & More 40K+ · 4.9★ (575) wp.org #17 ↓1 5 too low 13 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #21 ↑2 8 too low 14 Church Content – Sermons, Events and More 3K+ · 4.9★ (49) wp.org #9 5 too high 15 Create Block Theme 20K+ · 4.8★ (38) wp.org #14 ↑1 1 too high 16 Child Theme Wizard 10K+ · 4.9★ (36) wp.org #16 ↑1 17 WP Child Theme Generator 20K+ · 4.7★ (19) wp.org #12 5 too high 18 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #19 ↓5 1 too low 19 Secure Copy Content Protection and Content Locking 20K+ · 4.3★ (62) wp.org #22 3 too low 20 Passster – Password Protect Pages and Content 10K+ · 4.2★ (60) wp.org #13 ↓6 7 too high 21 Generate Child Theme 9K+ · 4.3★ (15) wp.org #18 ↑2 3 too high 22 MxChat – AI Chatbot & Content Generation for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (31) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 Weaver Xtreme Theme Support 8K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #20 ↑1 3 too high 24 WPS Child Theme Generator 6K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #23 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.