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

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 plugin”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

DreamHost Automated Migration shows at wp.org #10 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 20K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.6★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 1267 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #1 2 All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4940) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 WPvivid — Backup, Migration & Staging 900K+ · 4.9★ (1568) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Migrate Guru – Site Migration & Cloning 200K+ · 4.9★ (1645) wp.org #6 7 Backup Migration 80K+ · 4.9★ (1338) wp.org #7 8 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #8 9 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #17 ↓1 8 too low 10 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #21 ↑1 11 too low 11 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #13 2 too low 12 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #16 ↓1 4 too low 13 Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed – Easy Social Feeds Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4358) wp.org #23 ↓3 10 too low 14 Download Plugin 60K+ · 4.5★ (27) wp.org #11 3 too high 15 GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 100K+ · 4.6★ (708) wp.org #18 3 too low 16 1-Click WordPress Migration Plugin – Backup, Migrate & Clone 400+ · 4.5★ (40) wp.org #15 ↓1 1 too high 17 Plugin Notes Plus 9K+ · 5.0★ (62) wp.org #22 ↑1 5 too low 18 WebToffee WP Backup and Migration 5K+ · 4.5★ (49) wp.org #12 ↓2 6 too high 19 Royal WordPress Backup, Restore & Migration Plugin – Backup WordPress Sites Safely 30K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #9 ↑3 10 too high 20 WP Migrate Lite – Migration Made Easy 200K+ · 4.2★ (318) wp.org #19 ↓2 1 too high 21 Pressable Automated Migration 4K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #14 ↓1 7 too high 22 DreamHost Automated Migration 20K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #10 ↓1 12 too high 23 Pantheon Migrations 1K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #20 ↓1 3 too high 24 Tutor LMS – Migration Tool 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #24 ↓3

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.