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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “remote 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 “remote backup”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

Royal WordPress Backup, Restore & Migration Plugin – Backup WordPress Sites Safely shows at wp.org #11 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 30K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 7 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 5209 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 wp.org
1 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #1 2 WPvivid — Backup, Migration & Staging 900K+ · 4.9★ (1568) wp.org #2 3 WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470) wp.org #3 4 Backup Migration 80K+ · 4.9★ (1338) wp.org #4 5 JetBackup – Backup, Restore & Migrate 200K+ · 4.5★ (1056) wp.org #5 6 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5038) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 Total Upkeep – WordPress Backup Plugin plus Restore & Migrate by BoldGrid 40K+ · 4.8★ (442) wp.org #8 9 Backuply – Backup, Restore, Migrate and Clone 600K+ · 4.5★ (135) wp.org #9 ↑1 10 WP Umbrella: Security Backup Restore & Monitoring 90K+ · 4.8★ (81) wp.org #10 ↓1 11 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #16 5 too low 12 WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More 4M+ · 4.8★ (5209) wp.org #22 ↓3 10 too low 13 Backup, Restore and Migrate your sites with XCloner 10K+ · 4.2★ (129) wp.org #14 ↓1 1 too low 14 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #21 ↓1 7 too low 15 Modular DS: Monitor, update, and backup multiple websites 40K+ · 5.0★ (133) wp.org #20 ↓2 5 too low 16 The WP Remote WordPress Plugin 30K+ · 4.6★ (74) wp.org #15 1 too high 17 Everest Backup – WordPress Cloud Backup, Migration, Restore & Cloning Plugin 3K+ · 4.4★ (45) wp.org #13 ↑1 4 too high 18 Royal WordPress Backup, Restore & Migration Plugin – Backup WordPress Sites Safely 30K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #11 7 too high 19 WPvivid Backup for MainWP 10K+ · 4.6★ (9) wp.org #12 7 too high 20 Remote Website Management by Watchful 3K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #18 ↓1 2 too high 21 Kadence Central – Site Management, Backups, Security, and Reporting 30K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #17 ↓1 4 too high 22 Downloadyar Remote Media 30+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #19 3 too high 23 atec Backup 40+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #24 ↓2 1 too low 24 RS Remote Site Manager 90+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 ↓2 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.