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

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 backup”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 5 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

Royal WordPress Backup, Restore & Migration Plugin – Backup WordPress Sites Safely shows at wp.org #14 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 30K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 7 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

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

UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #2 3

WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470) wp.org #3 4

Backup Migration 80K+ · 4.9★ (1338) wp.org #6 ↓2 2 too low 5

BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) not PHP-current wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too high 6

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

Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #5 ↑1 2 too high 8

WPvivid — Backup, Migration & Staging 900K+ · 4.9★ (1568) wp.org #8 9

BlogVault Backup & Staging 80K+ · 4.6★ (332) wp.org #10 ↓1 1 too low 10

JetBackup – Backup, Restore & Migrate 200K+ · 4.5★ (1056) wp.org #12 2 too low 11

Backuply – Backup, Restore, Migrate and Clone 600K+ · 4.5★ (135) wp.org #9 ↑1 2 too high 12

WP Database Backup – Unlimited Database & Files Backup by Backup for WP 20K+ · 4.5★ (102) wp.org #11 1 too high 13

Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) heavy footprint wp.org #16 3 too low 14

Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #22 ↑1 8 too low 15

WP Umbrella: Security Backup Restore & Monitoring 90K+ · 4.8★ (81) wp.org #13 ↑2 2 too high 16

Limit Login Attempts Security – Login Security, 2FA, Firewall, Brute Force Prevention 1M+ · 4.8★ (1488) wp.org #23 ↓3 7 too low 17

Total Upkeep – WordPress Backup Plugin plus Restore & Migrate by BoldGrid 40K+ · 4.8★ (442) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #17 ↓3 18

Everest Backup – WordPress Cloud Backup, Migration, Restore & Cloning Plugin 3K+ · 4.4★ (45) wp.org #15 ↓2 3 too high 19

Backup, Restore and Migrate your sites with XCloner 10K+ · 4.2★ (129) wp.org #21 2 too low 20

Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) not PHP-current wp.org #20 21

Jetpack VaultPress Backup 20K+ · 4.5★ (35) wp.org #18 3 too high 22

Royal WordPress Backup, Restore & Migration Plugin – Backup WordPress Sites Safely 30K+ · 5.0★ (7) thin reviews wp.org #14 ↑3 8 too high 23

WebToffee WP Backup and Migration 5K+ · 4.5★ (49) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #24 1 too low 24

WPvivid Backup for MainWP 10K+ · 4.6★ (9) thin reviews wp.org #19 5 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.