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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “wp 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 “wp backup”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 3 of the top 20. 3 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 #17 but places #24 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #1 2 WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too low 4 Duplicator – Backups & Migration Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups, & More 1M+ · 4.9★ (4940) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too high 5 Backup Migration 80K+ · 4.9★ (1338) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #5 ↓3 1 too high 7 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 #8 1 too low 8 WPvivid — Backup, Migration & Staging 900K+ · 4.9★ (1568) wp.org #9 1 too low 9 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #7 2 too high 10 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #12 ↑1 2 too low 11 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #13 ↓1 2 too low 12 WP Umbrella: Security Backup Restore & Monitoring 90K+ · 4.8★ (81) wp.org #10 2 too high 13 JetBackup – Backup, Restore & Migrate 200K+ · 4.5★ (1056) wp.org #16 ↓1 3 too low 14 WP Database Backup – Unlimited Database & Files Backup by Backup for WP 20K+ · 4.5★ (102) wp.org #11 3 too high 15 BlogVault Backup & Staging 80K+ · 4.6★ (332) wp.org #15 ↓1 16 WP 2FA – Two-factor authentication for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (184) wp.org #14 ↑2 2 too high 17 WP Reset 300K+ · 4.8★ (1014) wp.org #21 4 too low 18 WP Statistics – Simple, privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative 500K+ · 4.1★ (759) wp.org #18 ↑1 19 Backuply – Backup, Restore, Migrate and Clone 600K+ · 4.5★ (135) wp.org #19 ↑4 20 WP Crontrol 300K+ · 4.4★ (167) wp.org #23 ↑1 3 too low 21 Database Backup for WordPress 60K+ · 4.5★ (66) wp.org #20 ↓3 1 too high 22 Jetpack VaultPress Backup 20K+ · 4.5★ (35) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 WebToffee WP Backup and Migration 5K+ · 4.5★ (49) wp.org #22 ↓2 1 too high 24 Royal WordPress Backup, Restore & Migration Plugin – Backup WordPress Sites Safely 30K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #17 ↑1 7 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.