wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “restore”

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 “restore”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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

Royal WordPress Backup, Restore & Migration Plugin – Backup WordPress Sites Safely shows at wp.org #11 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 9 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

Disable Gutenberg places #12 on merit, 5.0★ from 735 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

WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470) wp.org #2 ↓1 1 too low 2

BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) not PHP-current wp.org #1 ↑1 1 too high 3

UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too low 4

Backuply – Backup, Restore, Migrate and Clone 600K+ · 4.5★ (135) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too high 5

Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4940) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #5 6

JetBackup – Backup, Restore & Migrate 200K+ · 4.5★ (1056) wp.org #8 2 too low 7

WP Umbrella: Security Backup Restore & Monitoring 90K+ · 4.8★ (81) wp.org #6 1 too high 8

All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #10 2 too low 9

Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #7 2 too high 10

WPvivid — Backup, Migration & Staging 900K+ · 4.9★ (1568) wp.org #12 2 too low 11

Backup, Restore and Migrate your sites with XCloner 10K+ · 4.2★ (129) wp.org #9 2 too high 12

Disable Gutenberg 500K+ · 5.0★ (735) wp.org #18 ↓3 6 too low 13

Backup Migration 80K+ · 4.9★ (1338) wp.org #24 ↓6 11 too low 14

Classic Editor 8M+ · 4.9★ (1251) wp.org #19 5 too low 15

Total Upkeep – WordPress Backup Plugin plus Restore & Migrate by BoldGrid 40K+ · 4.8★ (442) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #13 ↓2 2 too high 16

WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #22 ↓7 6 too low 17

Loco Translate 1M+ · 4.8★ (453) wp.org #17 ↑5 18

Cart Abandonment Recovery for WooCommerce – Recover Lost Sales with Automated Emails 300K+ · 4.8★ (625) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #15 ↑9 3 too high 19

Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) not PHP-current wp.org #16 3 too high 20

Royal WordPress Backup, Restore & Migration Plugin – Backup WordPress Sites Safely 30K+ · 5.0★ (7) thin reviews wp.org #11 ↑3 9 too high 21

Everest Backup – WordPress Cloud Backup, Migration, Restore & Cloning Plugin 3K+ · 4.4★ (45) wp.org #21 ↓1 22

Menu Backup & Restore + Import/Export 500+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #14 ↓1 8 too high 23

Accept PayPal & Stripe with Subscriptions for WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.8★ (9) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #23 ↓1 24

Poly Bright Quick Restore – Backup, Restore & Migration 40+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #20 4 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.