wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “clone order”

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 “clone order”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

Clone / Duplicate Orders for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #3 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

GDPR Cookie Compliance – Cookie Banner, Cookie Consent, Cookie Notice for CCPA, EU Cookie Law places #11 on merit, 4.6★ from 205 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470) wp.org #1 2

Backuply – Backup, Restore, Migrate and Clone 600K+ · 4.5★ (135) wp.org #2 ↑1 3

UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #6 ↓1 3 too low 4

Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4940) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #4 5

All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #7 ↓1 2 too low 6

Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #8 ↑5 2 too low 7

Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) heavy footprint wp.org #10 ↑1 3 too low 8

Post Duplicator 200K+ · 4.8★ (80) wp.org #12 ↓3 4 too low 9

Order Splitter for WooCommerce 300+ · 4.7★ (70) wp.org #11 ↓1 2 too low 10

BlogVault Backup & Staging 80K+ · 4.6★ (332) wp.org #17 7 too low 11

GDPR Cookie Compliance – Cookie Banner, Cookie Consent, Cookie Notice for CCPA, EU Cookie Law 300K+ · 4.6★ (205) wp.org #19 ↓4 8 too low 12

Upsell Funnel Builder for WooCommerce – Create Upsells, Cross-Sells, Order Bumps, Frequently Bought, and Popups. 2K+ · 4.7★ (116) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #13 ↓1 1 too low 13

Duplicate Post – duplicate pages, copy content, clone posts 5K+ · 4.7★ (7) thin reviews wp.org #5 ↑3 8 too high 14

WP Crontrol 300K+ · 4.4★ (167) wp.org #21 7 too low 15

1-Click WordPress Migration Plugin – Backup, Migrate & Clone 400+ · 4.5★ (40) wp.org #14 1 too high 16

Easy Duplicate Woo Order 1K+ · 4.7★ (21) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #9 ↓2 7 too high 17

WP Migrate Lite – Migration Made Easy 200K+ · 4.2★ (318) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #23 ↓2 6 too low 18

Clone / Duplicate Orders for WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #3 ↓1 15 too high 19

WP Duplicate Page 60K+ · 4.2★ (16) thin reviews wp.org #16 ↓2 3 too high 20

Contact Form to Chat Apps | Click to Chat to Order – FormyChat 3K+ · 5.0★ (6) thin reviews wp.org #15 ↑1 5 too high 21

InstaWP Connect – 1-click WP Staging & Migration 40K+ · 4.5★ (12) thin reviews wp.org #22 ↓2 1 too low 22

Advance Bank Payment Transfer Gateway 1K+ · 4.5★ (10) thin reviews wp.org #24 ↓2 2 too low 23

WC Order Split 20+ · 5.0★ (5) thin reviews wp.org #18 5 too high 24

Trinity Backup – Backup, Migrate, Restore, Clone & Schedule Backups 100+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #20 ↓2 4 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.