wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “migration export”

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 “migration export”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 4 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

Export Single Post Page shows at wp.org #10 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 3K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.7★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI places #9 on merit, 4.8★ from 27821 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

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

WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470) wp.org #2 3

Export All URLs 50K+ · 4.6★ (94) wp.org #3 4

Export and Import Users and Customers 50K+ · 4.8★ (442) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #4 ↑1 5

Order Export & Order Import for WooCommerce 50K+ · 4.7★ (337) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #6 ↑1 1 too low 6

Import and export users and customers 70K+ · 4.7★ (259) wp.org #9 ↑1 3 too low 7

Export Media URLs 7K+ · 5.0★ (29) wp.org #5 ↑1 2 too high 8

Product Import Export for WooCommerce – CSV Product Importer & Exporter 80K+ · 4.6★ (413) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #7 ↓3 1 too high 9

Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #17 ↑4 8 too low 10

Comments Import & Export 2K+ · 4.9★ (68) wp.org #11 ↓2 1 too low 11

Prime Mover – Backup and Migration 10K+ · 5.0★ (141) wp.org #19 ↓3 8 too low 12

WebToffee WP Backup and Migration 5K+ · 4.5★ (49) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #8 4 too high 13

WP Migrate Lite – Migration Made Easy 200K+ · 4.2★ (318) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #13 ↓2 14

Redirection 2M+ · 4.4★ (703) wp.org #23 9 too low 15

Import Export Menu 3K+ · 4.4★ (10) thin reviews wp.org #12 ↑2 3 too high 16

FastDup – Fastest WordPress Migration & Duplicator 5K+ · 4.6★ (27) wp.org #24 8 too low 17

Post Export Import with Media 1K+ · 4.5★ (8) thin reviews wp.org #14 ↓1 3 too high 18

Export Single Post Page 3K+ · 4.7★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #10 8 too high 19

LearnPress – Backup & Migration Tool 5K+ · 3.0★ (16) thin reviews wp.org #16 ↓1 3 too high 20

Tutor LMS – Migration Tool 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #15 ↓3 5 too high 21

Export All Posts, Products, Orders & Users | WP Ultimate Exporter | WordPress CSV Export 6K+ · 3.2★ (16) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #20 ↓3 1 too high 22

WP All Export – User Export Add-On 6K+ · 3.6★ (7) thin reviews wp.org #18 ↑5 4 too high 23

Magic Export & Import 200+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #21 ↓2 2 too high 24

Export/Import Media – CSV Media Library Import & Export 1K+ · 3.7★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #22 ↓2 2 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.