wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “wp backend 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 backend theme”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 6 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
WP Meta and Date Remover shows at wp.org #9 but places #14 on merit, a gap of 5 places. Its 80K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.2★ average from 71 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
How this rank is calculated
Each plugin's merit score multiplies these inputs together: how recently it was updated, how current its "tested up to" WordPress version is, its install base (log scale, capped at 10 million), its support thread resolution rate, and a rating score. The rating score weights the star average by review volume against a sitewide prior, then scales it by the lower bound of the share of 4 and 5 star reviews. A plugin with 3.7 stars from tens of thousands of reviews can still outscore a 4.9 with a few dozen, because the small sample carries less certainty.
A health factor between 0.4 and 1.15 then adjusts that score for what wp.org's search can't see: PHP fatals or failed activations on a test install, PHP and WordPress compatibility, memory and page-speed footprint, suspicious review patterns, closure risk, and a large install base with very few reviews. Clean, adopted plugins earn a small lift.
A keyword ranking starts from wp.org's search order for the term, weighting each position by 1 divided by its place, then applies the merit correction and health factor above. Relevance to the keyword stays in the result, so the order can differ from the all-categories list on /best, which scores plugins with no search term.
Hover a row to see the main reason for its position.
WP Migrate Lite – Migration Made Easy 200K+ · 4.2★ (318)
wp.org #2 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 2 
Xpro Theme Builder For Elementor – FREE 20K+ · 5.0★ (14) thin reviews
wp.org #1 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 3 
WP Job Manager 70K+ · 4.4★ (237)
wp.org #3 4 
Kadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection 700K+ · 4.6★ (3,992)
wp.org #5 ↑1 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 5 
WP Event Manager – Events Calendar, Registrations, Sell Tickets with WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.0★ (251)
wp.org #4 ↑3 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 6 
Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612)
wp.org #7 ↑6 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 7 
WP Recipe Maker 50K+ · 5.0★ (358)
wp.org #8 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 8 
PDF Invoices & Packing Slips for WooCommerce 300K+ · 5.0★ (1,866)
wp.org #11 ↓6 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 9 
Create Block Theme 20K+ · 4.8★ (38)
wp.org #6 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 3 places above merit 10 
WP Downgrade | Specific Core Version 100K+ · 4.8★ (169)
wp.org #10 11 
File Manager 1M+ · 4.6★ (1,492)
wp.org #12 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 1 place below merit 12 
LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2,778)
wp.org #14 ↑7 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 13 
AI-Powered Carousel, Slider, Video & Photo Gallery Blocks by WP Carousel 60K+ · 4.7★ (435)
wp.org #16 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 3 places below merit 14 W WP Meta and Date Remover 80K+ · 4.2★ (71)
wp.org #9 wp.org ranks it 5 places above merit 15 
Dark Mode – Improve Accessibility with AI Powered Dark Theme 20K+ · 4.5★ (391)
wp.org #17 ↓5 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 16 
Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1,668)
wp.org #20 wp.org ranks it 4 places below merit 17 
WP Maps – Google Maps, OpenStreetMap, Mapbox, Store Locator with Search, Filters & Listings 60K+ · 4.3★ (122)
wp.org #15 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 2 places above merit 18 
WP Datepicker 6K+ · 4.8★ (37)
wp.org #13 wp.org ranks it 5 places above merit 19 
WP Meteor Website Speed Optimization Addon 20K+ · 4.7★ (77)
wp.org #18 ↓2 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 20 
Redis Object Cache 500K+ · 4.5★ (179)
wp.org #19 ↑1 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 21 
WP Travel – Ultimate Travel Booking System, Tour Management Engine 3K+ · 4.7★ (164)
wp.org #23 ↓1 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 22 
Supreme Modules Lite – Divi Theme, Extra Theme and Divi Builder 100K+ · 4.8★ (109)
wp.org #24 ↓7 wp.org ranks it 2 places below merit 23 
WP Coder – Insert & Manage Code Snippets 10K+ · 4.9★ (32)
wp.org #22 ↓3 wp.org ranks it 1 place above merit 24 
WP SAML Auth 7K+ · 4.5★ (8) thin reviews
wp.org #21 ↓3 wp.org ranks it 3 places above merit Merit ranking caps the install boost at 10M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted 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.