wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “post 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 “post migration”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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

DreamHost Automated Migration shows at wp.org #7 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 11 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

Revive Social – Social Media Auto Post and Scheduling Automation Plugin places #12 on merit, 4.0★ from 556 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. 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★ (8706) wp.org #1 ↑1 2

All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #2 ↓1 3

Migrate Guru – Site Migration & Cloning 200K+ · 4.9★ (1645) wp.org #3 4

Post SMTP – Complete Email Delivery and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App 300K+ · 4.7★ (528) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too low 5

Custom Post Type UI 1M+ · 4.6★ (276) wp.org #4 ↑2 1 too high 6

Post Views Counter 100K+ · 4.9★ (1236) wp.org #8 ↑2 2 too low 7

Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #6 ↑11 1 too high 8

Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #15 ↑1 7 too low 9

Post Duplicator 200K+ · 4.8★ (80) wp.org #9 ↓2 10

Rate My Post – Star Rating Plugin by FeedbackWP 20K+ · 4.7★ (159) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #11 ↓2 12

Revive Social – Social Media Auto Post and Scheduling Automation Plugin 20K+ · 4.0★ (556) wp.org #22 10 too low 13

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

LitExtension – Automated Store Migration & Import 1K+ · 4.8★ (51) wp.org #16 ↓2 2 too low 15

W4 Post List 3K+ · 4.7★ (94) wp.org #19 4 too low 16

Spectra Legacy – Gutenberg Blocks 1M+ · 4.7★ (1872) heavy footprint wp.org #23 7 too low 17

Pressable Automated Migration 4K+ · 5.0★ (10) thin reviews wp.org #10 ↓2 7 too high 18

DreamHost Automated Migration 20K+ · 4.6★ (5) thin reviews wp.org #7 ↓2 11 too high 19

Cloudways WordPress Migrator 10K+ · 4.2★ (36) wp.org #20 1 too low 20

Pantheon Migrations 1K+ · 5.0★ (7) thin reviews wp.org #12 ↓1 8 too high 21

MB Custom Post Types & Custom Taxonomies 10K+ · 4.7★ (13) thin reviews 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 #24 2 too low 23

Export Single Post Page 3K+ · 4.7★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #17 ↓2 6 too high 24

Demi – One Click Demo Import, Backup & Site Migration 300+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #21 3 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.