wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “cloud”

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 “cloud”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 of the top 20. 3 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

Media Cloud Sync shows at wp.org #7 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.9★ average from 13 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk places #8 on merit, 4.8★ from 3220 reviews, but shows at wp.org #13. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

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

Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) heavy footprint wp.org #5 1 too low 5

Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) not PHP-current wp.org #4 1 too high 6

Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #8 2 too low 7

FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #6 1 too high 8

Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #13 5 too low 9

WPCode – Insert Headers and Footers + Custom Code Snippets – WordPress Code Manager 3M+ · 4.9★ (1915) wp.org #10 ↑1 1 too low 10

Templately – Elementor & Gutenberg Template Library: 6500+ Free & Pro Ready Templates And Cloud! 300K+ · 5.0★ (383) wp.org #11 ↑1 1 too low 11

Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #15 ↑1 4 too low 12

All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #14 ↑4 2 too low 13

BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) not PHP-current wp.org #9 ↑6 4 too high 14

Backup Migration 80K+ · 4.9★ (1338) wp.org #20 ↓6 6 too low 15

WPvivid — Backup, Migration & Staging 900K+ · 4.9★ (1568) wp.org #18 ↑4 3 too low 16

Media Cloud Sync 1K+ · 4.9★ (13) thin reviews wp.org #7 9 too high 17

Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) not PHP-currentheavy footprint wp.org #17 ↑3 18

Limit Login Attempts Security – Login Security, 2FA, Firewall, Brute Force Prevention 1M+ · 4.8★ (1488) wp.org #22 ↓13 4 too low 19

Backuply – Backup, Restore, Migrate and Clone 600K+ · 4.5★ (135) wp.org #24 5 too low 20

Offload Media – Cloud Storage 1K+ · 4.4★ (18) thin reviews wp.org #12 ↓1 8 too high 21

Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #19 ↓7 2 too high 22

Printus – Automatic Cloud Order Printing for WooCommerce 800+ · 5.0★ (27) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #23 1 too low 23

Categorized Tag Cloud 1K+ · 3.8★ (10) thin reviews wp.org #16 ↑1 7 too high 24

LegalWeb Cloud 300+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #21 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.