Exclude Image Thumbnails From UpdraftPlus Backups
by David Baumwald · Backup
Also makes 9 other plugins · 11.4K+ installs across the portfolio →
An UpdraftPlus extension that excludes image size thumbnails, generated by WordPress, from Updraft backups.
Try it live opens a temporary test site in your browser, which can take about 20 seconds to load. Plugins that rely on outside services or a full server may not work completely there.
Health
C 61/100
Stale
Active installs
4K+
≈4.5K estimated
Momentum
+21%
downloads vs prior 30d
Biggest opportunity: “backup” and “image” aren't earning a slot. You list them, but you're not in the first 24 results for those searches. WordPress.org counts only your first five tags, so free the slot for a search you can win.
61 health vs 75 average across 556 Backup plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →7.9%
of downloads still active
At least 4K of 50.4K lifetime downloads are still running, above its category: the median Backup plugin keeps 1.6%, across 285 plugins.
Downloads count every update, not just first installs, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower. Compare against other Backup plugins, not across the directory. wp.org reports active installs as the bottom of a band, so the real rate is this or higher.
Details
Recent review vibe
read from the latest 11 reviews to 2022-06-10Reviewers are uniformly happy, saying it shrinks backup sizes and fixes failing UpdraftPlus backups, and several wish it were a built-in UpdraftPlus feature.
Directory ranking optimization
How it's scored →How well this listing is tuned to rank in WordPress.org search, on the factors an owner controls. Not popularity, optimization.
Well optimized
Most to gain: Update recency
Updated 633 days ago, past the ~180 days where wp.org starts discounting
Tested up to WordPress 6.7.11; the current branch is 6.8
5.0★ over 11 reviews, smoothed to 4.26★ and held back under 25 reviews
5 of 5 tags set · short description in place
To rank higher: Last updated 633 days ago — ship an update; wp.org decays a listing's search weight after ~180 days.
Get the full rank-higher report →Search visibility
How it's tracked →Directory searches this plugin turns up in, and which way each one is moving. WordPress.org publishes no history of search positions, so this starts the day we first tracked a keyword and never backfills.
27
Momentum
Losing ground
-2.0
Velocity
places per keyword, 26d
0%
Breadth
of keywords climbing, 26d
0.0
Acceleration
recent half vs earlier
wp.org is where the directory puts the plugin for that search. On merit is where it would sit if results were ranked on rating, support and updates, without the install boost. The last column is how far the wp.org position moved, from our first reading in the last 90 days to the latest.
| Keyword | wp.org | On merit | wp.org move, 90 days |
|---|---|---|---|
| updraft your tag | #9 | #14 | down 1 |
| updraftplus your tag | #10 | #15 | down 2 |
| exclude your tag | #24 | #22 | down 2 |
| backup your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| image your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
3 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days. 2 of its tags aren't in the top 24 for their own search.
What to do about it
- “backup” and “image” aren't earning a slot. You list them, but you're not in the first 24 results for those searches. WordPress.org counts only your first five tags, so free the slot for a search you can win.
Daily downloads
Since 5 Oct 2022 · 1,489 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 3.8K · peaks are release surges
Directory rank vs rivals
wp.org popularity rank over time · higher is better · when a rival's line climbs above yours, they've overtaken you
Health trend
Composite health score, snapshotted daily
Update activity
How busy the existing users are, measured as downloads in the last 30 days for every 1,000 active sites. A spike means a new release everyone's pulling; a long, slow decline means an aging user base that updates less.
Release cadence
No release in a yearHow often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.
0
releases in the last 12 months
1.7y ago
latest release · v1.0.4 · 6 Feb 2025
5
tagged releases on record
Recent releases
What its installed base runs
via wordpress.orgShare of active installs on each version of this plugin · 100% run the current release. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.
Estimated active installs
The public count shows “4K+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Crossed into this band 22 months ago; a band this size takes about a year or more to cross, which places it about 50% of the way through.
Install history since 23 Aug 2019
Recent reviews
All reviews on wp.org ↗- ★★★★★ Jos Klever4.4y ago
I found the code in your plugin via a tip in the #sustainability channel of WP Slack, so I tested it on a website that wasn’t able to do a full backup for over a year now (due to a bad host). By filtering the thumbnails out, I was finally successful in making a full backup again. For sustainability this should actually be an option in UpdraftPlus. Thank you for saving time and disk space!
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Bjarne Oldrup5.3y ago
I was attempting to reduce my sites backup sizes, to ease day to day administration, and from a sustainability perspective. All data transfers and hot storage uses energy – there is a carbon footprint to those backups. Excluding themes and plugins that I might as well get from WordPress.org in a rare restore situation, helped a lot. But those many WordPress image variants were a real eyesore. Even with a lean theme, there is at least 6 different variants/thumbnails of each image. Exclude Image Thumbnails From UpdraftPlus Backups did away with those images unnecessary in the backup, making it so much smaller, faster to backup and friendlier to the enviroment. Bonus tip: I chose to exclude all webp images from the backup as well. Those are in my case generated from the original jpg or png images, for even speedier load times. I would be able to re-generate those easily if restoring my site. Obviously you shouldn’t exclude webp if you upload these manually to the media library… Highly recommended.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ argosmedia5.5y ago
This is a great plugin. I always had Updraft complaining about resources, and lots of backups that failed partly or completely. Now it runs smoothly and without errors. The feaure this plugin adds to Updraft should be a standard feature of Updraft itself. It’s a must have, simply as that. I was considering to stop using Updraft, although I use it on dozens of sites. But now I can continue using it. Thanks to this litle gem!
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ dustrider995.6y ago
Literally a miracle. Was next to impossible to reliably create backups for one of my sites due to so many images. This plugin makes using Updraft possible. THANK YOU!
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ sqez5.9y ago
Didn’t try to restore and recreate thumbnails but for now I’m happy with the space savings. Thanks!
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Jimmy Lee6.3y ago
Saves Time! Saves Space! Thanks!
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ madmax4ever6.3y ago
Hello, Thanks to this plugin, I now have a backup lighter and thus quicker to do! I now use a version I modified on my own to exclude also cropped thumbnails and webp images BUT keep “thumbnails like named” files inside plugins and themes (just to be sure, as basically they can be original files and not a thumbnail version of on other file). Combined with Dynamic Image Resizer (but a “modified and extended” plugin version) I got my winning duet when restoring a site. Great work. This topic was modified 6 years ago by Jan Dembowski. Reason: Deleted link This topic was modified 6 years ago by madmax4ever.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Cyberchicken7.2y ago
Thumbnails are hardlinked in worpress content (pages, posts and so on). If you make a restore on a blank wordpress from a backupset made with this plugin the thumbnails are not going to be requested and created by the code. You have to trigger the reconstruction with one of the free plugins that do that. Great plugin!
Read on wp.org ↗
Latest updates
via wp.org changelogRecent releases and news for this plugin
- — Version 1.0.4 Updated assets. 1.0.4
- — Version 1.0.3 IMPROVED – Support WebP and AVIF fieltypes, props @josklever. 1.0.3
- — Version 1.0.2 IMPROVED – Regex update to prevent files with dimensions at the end of the file name from being filtered. 1.0.2
- — Version 1.0.1 IMPROVED – Regex filtering. FIXED – README content. 1.0.1
- — Version 1.0.0 Initial release. 1.0.0
AI assistants
How it's measured →Whether ChatGPT and Claude name this plugin when asked the category question, and whether the readme gives them something to quote.
Not measured yet for this plugin’s topics. Its tracked searches are not among the measured topics. See the topics measured so far.
Readme readiness
2 of 8 pass · checked 27 Oct 2026Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.
- ✓ Says what it does "An UpdraftPlus extension that excludes image size thumbnails, generated by WordPress, from Updraft backups."
- ! Has a FAQ No FAQ section.
- ! FAQ asks real questions No FAQ to judge.
- ! Names who it is for Never says who the plugin is for or what they use it for.
- ! Names what it works with Names no plugin, service or platform it works with.
- ! Headings and lists 0 headings and 1 list; assistants quote headed sections and bullet lists, not paragraphs.
- ! Enough to quote 403 characters of description; under 1,000 there is little to quote.
- ✓ Tags match the text All 5 tags appear in the text.
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2024-12-30 5K+ → 4K+ down after 1 days in tier
- 2024-12-29 4K+ → 5K+ up after 60 days in tier
- 2024-10-30 5K+ → 4K+ down after 3 days in tier
- 2024-10-27 4K+ → 5K+ up after 94 days in tier
- 2024-07-25 5K+ → 4K+ down after 11 days in tier
- 2024-07-14 4K+ → 5K+ up after 210 days in tier
- 2023-12-17 5K+ → 4K+ down after 1 days in tier
- 2023-12-16 4K+ → 5K+ up after 1 days in tier
Competes with
The plugins that solve the same job, ranked by shared tags then reach, closest match first. The letter on the right is each plugin's health grade (A best, F worst).
-
All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ installs · 4.5★ · 1 shared tag A -
UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ installs · 4.8★ · 1 shared tag A -
Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ installs · 3.7★ · 1 shared tag B -
Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ installs · 4.9★ · 1 shared tag A -
ManageWP Worker 1M+ installs · 4.6★ · 1 shared tag A -
WPvivid — Backup, Migration & Staging 900K+ installs · 4.9★ · 1 shared tag A
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for Exclude Image Thumbnails From UpdraftPlus Backups into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/de-updraftplus-backup-exclude-image-thumbnails" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Exclude Image Thumbnails From UpdraftPlus Backups — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> Exclude Image Thumbnails From UpdraftPlus Backups: 4K+ active installs, 5.0★ (11 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-11-01. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/de-updraftplus-backup-exclude-image-thumbnails
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