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← Rankings

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

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 page”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 of the top 20. 4 plugins are 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

WP Duplicate Page shows at wp.org #12 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 60K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.2★ average from 16 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Page Builder by SiteOrigin places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 1005 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #1 2 Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4342) wp.org #4 ↑1 2 too low 3 Xpro Theme Builder For Elementor – FREE 20K+ · 5.0★ (14) wp.org #2 ↑1 1 too high 4 Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4699) wp.org #7 ↑2 3 too low 5 Fullwidth Templates for Any Theme & Page Builder 20K+ · 4.7★ (42) wp.org #3 ↑3 2 too high 6 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #5 ↑11 1 too high 7 P Page-list 30K+ · 4.7★ (89) wp.org #6 ↑2 1 too high 8 Under Construction 600K+ · 4.8★ (1285) wp.org #9 ↓7 1 too low 9 Theme My Login 50K+ · 3.7★ (460) wp.org #8 ↓4 1 too high 10 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) wp.org #13 ↓1 3 too low 11 Page Builder by SiteOrigin 400K+ · 4.8★ (1005) wp.org #16 ↓2 5 too low 12 Page scroll to id 100K+ · 4.9★ (225) wp.org #10 ↑1 2 too high 13 Theme Switcha – Easily Switch Themes for Development and Testing 7K+ · 4.4★ (63) wp.org #11 ↓4 2 too high 14 Colibri Page Builder 80K+ · 4.4★ (80) wp.org #14 ↓4 15 Simple Page Ordering 100K+ · 4.7★ (131) wp.org #20 5 too low 16 PPWP – Password Protect Pages 30K+ · 4.7★ (271) wp.org #24 8 too low 17 Create Block Theme 20K+ · 4.8★ (38) wp.org #15 ↑4 2 too high 18 Landing Page Builder – Coming Soon page, Maintenance Mode, Lead Page, WordPress Landing Pages 8K+ · 4.6★ (202) wp.org #22 ↑1 4 too low 19 WP Duplicate Page 60K+ · 4.2★ (16) wp.org #12 ↑1 7 too high 20 WP Child Theme Generator 20K+ · 4.7★ (19) wp.org #17 ↓2 3 too high 21 Generate Child Theme 9K+ · 4.3★ (15) wp.org #21 22 Weaver Xtreme Theme Support 8K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #23 1 too low 23 Home Page Banner for Astra Theme 2K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #18 ↓1 5 too high 24 P Page Optimize 200K+ · 3.0★ (5) wp.org #19 ↓1 5 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.