Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “incremental 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 “incremental backup”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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 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

WPvivid Backup for MainWP shows at wp.org #6 but places #14 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.6★ average from 9 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

MainWP Dashboard: Self-hosted WordPress Management for Agencies places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 2354 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WPvivid — Backup, Migration & Staging 900K+ · 4.9★ (1568) wp.org #1 2 WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470) wp.org #2 3 BlogVault Backup & Staging 80K+ · 4.6★ (332) wp.org #3 4 WP Umbrella: Security Backup Restore & Monitoring 90K+ · 4.8★ (81) wp.org #4 5 WP Database Backup – Unlimited Database & Files Backup by Backup for WP 20K+ · 4.5★ (102) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 Modular DS: Monitor, update, and backup multiple websites 40K+ · 5.0★ (133) wp.org #11 5 too low 7 Backup and Staging by WP Time Capsule 10K+ · 4.0★ (128) wp.org #9 2 too low 8 ManageWP Worker 1M+ · 4.6★ (679) wp.org #12 4 too low 9 Backup, Restore and Migrate your sites with XCloner 10K+ · 4.2★ (129) wp.org #10 1 too low 10 MainWP Dashboard: Self-hosted WordPress Management for Agencies 20K+ · 4.9★ (2354) wp.org #18 8 too low 11 Jetpack VaultPress Backup 20K+ · 4.5★ (35) wp.org #8 3 too high 12 Royal WordPress Backup, Restore & Migration Plugin – Backup WordPress Sites Safely 30K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #5 7 too high 13 Simply Static – The Static Site Generator 30K+ · 4.5★ (195) wp.org #17 4 too low 14 WPvivid Backup for MainWP 10K+ · 4.6★ (9) wp.org #6 8 too high 15 MainWP Child – Securely Connects to the MainWP Dashboard to Manage Multiple Sites 700K+ · 5.0★ (71) wp.org #16 1 too low 16 Nifty Backups – WordPress Backup & Restore 70+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #15 1 too high 17 UpdraftCentral Dashboard 5K+ · 4.5★ (22) wp.org #20 3 too low 18 WowShipping – Table Rate & Weight Based Shipping 700+ · 5.0★ (25) wp.org #21 3 too low 19 SiteSkite – Secure MCP & AI WebOps. Connect ChatGPT, Claude, or Any AI Agent via MCP 200+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #23 4 too low 20 Migrator – Site Migration and Backup 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 7 too high 21 Nota Backup & Restore – WordPress Backup, Migration & Clone 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 7 too high 22 Safer Remote Site Backup & Manager 90+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 23 Codeavour Smart Backup & Restore 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 AI-SiteArk 20+ · 5.0★ (1) 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.