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

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 “plugin migration”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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 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 #11 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 9 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

Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 27821 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 signals wp.org

UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8708) wp.org #1 2

All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #2 3

Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4940) wp.org #3 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

Backup Migration 80K+ · 4.9★ (1338) wp.org #6 7

Migrate Guru – Site Migration & Cloning 200K+ · 4.9★ (1644) 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 #14 5 too low 10

Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #18 ↓2 8 too low 11

Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #10 1 too high 12

GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 100K+ · 4.6★ (708) wp.org #16 ↓1 4 too low 13

FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #13 ↓1 14

SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #19 ↑1 5 too low 15

Download Plugin 60K+ · 4.5★ (27) wp.org #9 6 too high 16

WebToffee WP Backup and Migration 5K+ · 4.5★ (49) wp.org #12 ↓1 4 too high 17

Plugin Notes Plus 9K+ · 5.0★ (62) wp.org #20 ↓2 3 too low 18

1-Click WordPress Migration Plugin – Backup, Migrate & Clone 400+ · 4.5★ (40) wp.org #22 ↑2 4 too low 19

Pressable Automated Migration 4K+ · 5.0★ (10) thin reviews wp.org #15 ↓2 4 too high 20

DreamHost Automated Migration 20K+ · 4.6★ (5) thin reviews wp.org #11 ↓1 9 too high 21

WP Plugin Manager – Deactivate plugins per page 3K+ · 4.4★ (23) thin reviews wp.org #24 ↓1 3 too low 22

Pantheon Migrations 1K+ · 5.0★ (7) thin reviews wp.org #17 ↓1 5 too high 23

Royal WordPress Backup, Restore & Migration Plugin – Backup WordPress Sites Safely 30K+ · 5.0★ (7) thin reviews wp.org #21 ↓1 2 too high 24

Tutor LMS – Migration Tool 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) thin reviews wp.org #23 ↓3 1 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.