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← Rankings

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

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 name”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

Generate Child Theme shows at wp.org #9 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 9K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 15 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode places #8 on merit, 4.9★ from 4699 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4342) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Xpro Theme Builder For Elementor – FREE 20K+ · 5.0★ (14) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Theme My Login 50K+ · 3.7★ (460) wp.org #5 ↓1 2 too low 4 Theme Switcha – Easily Switch Themes for Development and Testing 7K+ · 4.4★ (63) wp.org #4 ↓1 5 Name Directory 2K+ · 4.9★ (81) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 WP Rollback – Rollback Plugins and Themes 200K+ · 4.9★ (215) wp.org #10 4 too low 7 Easy Updates Manager 300K+ · 4.8★ (726) wp.org #12 5 too low 8 Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4699) wp.org #17 ↑6 9 too low 9 WPC Name Your Price for WooCommerce 6K+ · 4.4★ (19) wp.org #3 ↑2 6 too high 10 Create Block Theme 20K+ · 4.8★ (38) wp.org #8 2 too high 11 WP Child Theme Generator 20K+ · 4.7★ (19) wp.org #6 5 too high 12 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #20 ↓1 8 too low 13 Show Current Template 100K+ · 5.0★ (71) wp.org #13 14 Child Theme Configurator 300K+ · 4.7★ (280) wp.org #16 2 too low 15 Supreme Modules Lite – Divi Theme, Extra Theme and Divi Builder 200K+ · 4.8★ (109) wp.org #14 1 too high 16 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #19 3 too low 17 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #24 ↓2 7 too low 18 Dark Mode – Improve Accessibility with AI Powered Dark Theme 20K+ · 4.5★ (391) wp.org #21 3 too low 19 Generate Child Theme 9K+ · 4.3★ (15) wp.org #9 10 too high 20 C Cryout Serious Theme Settings 40K+ · 4.3★ (16) wp.org #11 9 too high 21 Download Plugins and Themes in ZIP from Dashboard 30K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #18 3 too high 22 Cyr to Lat Reloaded – Transliteration of Links and File Names 30K+ · 4.5★ (15) wp.org #23 ↑1 1 too low 23 Browser Theme Color – Address Bar Color & Dark Mode 2K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 8 too high 24 Show Theme in Footer 90+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 ↓2 2 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.