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← Rankings

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

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 core”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

Jupiter X Core shows at wp.org #6 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 70K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 1.9★ average from 9 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) places #11 on merit, 4.9★ from 8869 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 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5040) wp.org #1 2 Easy Updates Manager 300K+ · 4.8★ (726) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Xpro Theme Builder For Elementor – FREE 20K+ · 5.0★ (14) wp.org #2 2 too high 5 Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4342) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 Theme My Login 50K+ · 3.7★ (460) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 Core Rollback 20K+ · 4.7★ (16) wp.org #5 2 too high 8 Theme Switcha – Easily Switch Themes for Development and Testing 7K+ · 4.4★ (63) wp.org #7 1 too high 9 WP Rollback – Rollback Plugins and Themes 200K+ · 4.9★ (215) wp.org #14 5 too low 10 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #16 6 too low 11 Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869) wp.org #20 9 too low 12 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4229) wp.org #19 7 too low 13 WP Downgrade | Specific Core Version 100K+ · 4.8★ (169) wp.org #15 2 too low 14 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8709) wp.org #22 8 too low 15 Create Block Theme 20K+ · 4.8★ (38) wp.org #11 4 too high 16 WP Child Theme Generator 20K+ · 4.7★ (19) wp.org #10 6 too high 17 Child Theme Configurator 300K+ · 4.7★ (280) wp.org #23 6 too low 18 Disable Updates for WordPress Core, Plugins and Themes 9K+ · 4.8★ (4) wp.org #13 5 too high 19 Load Combined Core Block Assets 1K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #18 1 too high 20 Core Web Vitals & PageSpeed Booster 1K+ · 3.9★ (15) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 Disable Auto Update Emails and Block Updates for Plugins, WP Core, and Themes 4K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #21 22 Advanced Addons, Theme & Core Exporter 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 5 too high 23 Jupiter X Core 70K+ · 1.9★ (9) wp.org #6 17 too high 24 Hester Core 10K+ · 2.5★ (2) 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.