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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “url 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 “url migration”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 2 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

Pantheon Migrations shows at wp.org #12 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 1K+ 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

Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI places #9 on merit, 4.8★ from 27821 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #1 2 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #2 3 Backup Migration 80K+ · 4.9★ (1338) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too low 4 Migrate Guru – Site Migration & Cloning 200K+ · 4.9★ (1645) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too low 5 Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4940) wp.org #3 2 too high 6 WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470) wp.org #6 7 URL Shortify – Simple and Easy URL Shortener 10K+ · 4.7★ (169) wp.org #8 ↓1 1 too low 8 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #7 1 too high 9 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #14 ↑1 5 too low 10 PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links 200K+ · 4.8★ (1322) wp.org #13 ↓3 3 too low 11 Export All URLs 50K+ · 4.6★ (94) wp.org #11 12 WebToffee WP Backup and Migration 5K+ · 4.5★ (49) wp.org #9 ↓1 3 too high 13 LitExtension – Automated Store Migration & Import 1K+ · 4.8★ (51) wp.org #17 ↓1 4 too low 14 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #20 ↓1 6 too low 15 WP Migrate Lite – Migration Made Easy 200K+ · 4.2★ (318) wp.org #15 ↓2 16 Export Media URLs 7K+ · 5.0★ (29) wp.org #16 ↓2 17 Pressable Automated Migration 4K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #10 ↓1 7 too high 18 WP Synchro – The Ultimate WordPress Migration Tool 2K+ · 5.0★ (30) wp.org #24 6 too low 19 FastDup – Fastest WordPress Migration & Duplicator 5K+ · 4.6★ (27) wp.org #21 ↓1 2 too low 20 Pantheon Migrations 1K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #12 8 too high 21 Remove Taxonomy URL 1K+ · 4.2★ (6) wp.org #22 ↓1 1 too low 22 URL Image Importer – Import External Images to the Media Library from URL, CSV & XML 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #18 ↓1 4 too high 23 U URL Replace 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #19 ↓1 4 too high 24 Demi – One Click Demo Import, Backup & Site Migration 300+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↓1 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.