wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “wp admin theme”
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 “wp admin theme”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 5 of the top 20. 2 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
Xpro Theme Builder For Elementor – FREE shows at wp.org #10 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 20K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 14 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423)
wp.org #1 2 
WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470)
wp.org #2 3 
UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706)
wp.org #3 4 
All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676)
wp.org #4 5 
WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228)
wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too low 6 
WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346)
wp.org #5 ↑3 1 too high 7 
WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617)
wp.org #7 8 
WP Rollback – Rollback Plugins and Themes 200K+ · 4.9★ (215)
wp.org #8 ↓2 9 
WP Store Locator 40K+ · 4.8★ (312)
wp.org #11 2 too low 10 
WP Statistics – Simple, privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative 500K+ · 4.1★ (759)
wp.org #9 1 too high 11 
WP Reset 300K+ · 4.8★ (1014)
wp.org #14 ↑2 3 too low 12 
Admin Menu Editor 300K+ · 4.6★ (312)
wp.org #12 ↑1 13 
WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click 100K+ · 4.8★ (1138)
wp.org #22 ↑1 9 too low 14 
Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667)
wp.org #20 6 too low 15 
WP Accessibility 60K+ · 4.8★ (68)
wp.org #13 ↑2 2 too high 16 
Smush – Image Optimization, Compression, Lazy Load, WebP & CDN 1M+ · 4.8★ (6053)
wp.org #23 ↓1 7 too low 17 
FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410)
wp.org #17 ↑2 18 
WP Activity Log 300K+ · 4.7★ (490)
wp.org #19 ↑1 1 too low 19 
Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4342) not PHP-currentheavy footprint
wp.org #18 ↑3 1 too high 20 
WP Crontrol 300K+ · 4.4★ (167)
wp.org #15 ↑2 5 too high 21 
Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) heavy footprint
wp.org #16 5 too high 22 Xpro Theme Builder For Elementor – FREE 20K+ · 5.0★ (14) thin reviews
wp.org #10 12 too high 23 
Theme Check 20K+ · 4.8★ (195)
wp.org #24 1 too low 24 
Theme My Login 50K+ · 3.7★ (460)
wp.org #21 ↓7 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.