Chromeless YouTube
by Adam Nowak · Media
Also makes 5 other plugins · 70+ installs across the portfolio →
This chromeless YouTube player enables you to easily display videos on your site. Each player instance displays a different video and can be resized.
Try it live opens a temporary test site in your browser, which can take about 20 seconds to load. Plugins that rely on outside services or a full server may not work completely there.
Health
D 43/100
Stale · Likely abandoned · Few reviews
Active installs
20+
≈21 estimated
Momentum
+12%
downloads vs prior 30d
Biggest opportunity: “video”, “video player” and “youtube” aren't earning a slot. You list them, but you're not in the first 24 results for those searches. WordPress.org counts only your first five tags, so free the slot for a search you can win.
43 health vs 62 average across 3,278 Media plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →0.2%
of downloads still active
At least 20 of 10K lifetime downloads are still running, below its category: the median Media plugin keeps 0.8%, across 2,317 plugins.
Downloads count every update, not just first installs, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower. Compare against other Media plugins, not across the directory. wp.org reports active installs as the bottom of a band, so the real rate is this or higher.
High removal-risk signals
63/100Maintenance and integrity signals that tend to precede a WordPress.org removal. Not an official status, a heads-up to act.
- Long abandoned. No update in 16+ years — the top precursor to removal once a vulnerability is found.
- Compatibility drift. Tested only up to WordPress 3.0.5, well behind 6.8.
Details
Directory ranking optimization
How it's scored →How well this listing is tuned to rank in WordPress.org search, on the factors an owner controls. Not popularity, optimization.
Under-optimized
Most to gain: Update recency
Updated 5916 days ago, past the ~180 days where wp.org starts discounting
Tested up to WordPress 3.0.5; the current branch is 6.8
3.0★ over 1 review, smoothed to 4.08★ and held back under 25 reviews
5 of 5 tags set · short description in place
To rank higher: Last updated 5916 days ago — ship an update; wp.org decays a listing's search weight after ~180 days.
Get the full rank-higher report →Search visibility
How it's tracked →Directory searches this plugin turns up in, and which way each one is moving. WordPress.org publishes no history of search positions, so this starts the day we first tracked a keyword and never backfills.
Not enough tracked days yet to call a direction. Momentum needs at least three keywords measured a week or more apart.
wp.org is where the directory puts the plugin for that search. On merit is where it would sit if results were ranked on rating, support and updates, without the install boost. The last column is how far the wp.org position moved, from our first reading in the last 90 days to the latest.
| Keyword | wp.org | On merit | wp.org move, 90 days |
|---|---|---|---|
| chromeless your tag | #7 | #8 | 0 |
| video your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| video player your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| youtube your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| youtube player your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
2 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 1 listed. 1 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words). 4 of its tags aren't in the top 24 for their own search.
What to do about it
- “video”, “video player” and “youtube” aren't earning a slot. You list them, but you're not in the first 24 results for those searches. WordPress.org counts only your first five tags, so free the slot for a search you can win.
Daily downloads
Since 5 Oct 2022 · 1,487 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 73 · peaks are release surges
Directory rank
Ranked about #25,300 to #28,300, alongside the other plugins at 20+ installs. Plugins with the same install count swap places between wp.org requests, so this is where most of them sit. Checked monthly, last on 21 Oct 2026.
Update activity
Downloads in the last 30 days for every 1,000 active sites.
Not enough installs to measure. This needs at least 100 active sites; below that, a handful of downloads reads as tens of thousands.
Release cadence
No release in a yearHow often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.
0
releases in the last 12 months
16.2y ago
latest release · v1.01 · 20 Aug 2010
1
tagged releases on record
Recent releases
What its installed base runs
via wordpress.orgShare of active installs on each version of this plugin · 100% run the current release. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.
Estimated active installs
The public count shows “20+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Crossed into this band 34 days ago and a band this size takes about a year or more to cross, so the real count is still just over 20.
At the current install trend, crossing 30+ in roughly 167 days.
Install history since 4 Aug 2020
Recent reviews
All reviews on wp.org ↗- ★★★★★ Ak 44313.8y ago
Works well with wordpress 3.5 but only supports one video per post which is a very limiting feature.
Read on wp.org ↗
Behavioral tests
via WP HiveAutomated install-time checks, tested on PHP 7.2.16 · WP 5.2.4
AI assistants
How it's measured →Whether ChatGPT and Claude name this plugin when asked the category question, and whether the readme gives them something to quote.
Not measured yet for this plugin’s topics. Its tracked searches are not among the measured topics. See the topics measured so far.
Readme readiness
6 of 8 pass · checked 25 Oct 2026Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.
- ✓ Says what it does "This chromeless YouTube player enables you to easily display videos on your site. Each player instance disp..."
- ✓ Has a FAQ 8 questions in the FAQ.
- ✓ FAQ asks real questions 8 of 8 read like questions a user would type.
- ! Names who it is for One audience phrase ("if you want"); say who the plugin is for and what they use it for.
- ✓ Names what it works with Mentions YouTube.
- ! Headings and lists 0 headings and 0 lists; assistants quote headed sections and bullet lists, not paragraphs.
- ✓ Enough to quote 1,240 characters of description.
- ✓ Tags match the text All 5 tags appear in the text.
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2026-09-27 10+ → 20+ up after 164 days in tier
- 2026-04-16 20+ → 10+ down after 104 days in tier
- 2026-01-02 30+ → 20+ down after 24 days in tier
- 2025-12-09 20+ → 30+ up after 6 days in tier
- 2025-12-03 30+ → 20+ down after 12 days in tier
- 2025-11-21 20+ → 30+ up after 1 days in tier
- 2025-11-20 30+ → 20+ down after 15 days in tier
- 2025-11-05 20+ → 30+ up after 2 days in tier
Competes with
The plugins that solve the same job, ranked by shared tags then reach, closest match first. The letter on the right is each plugin's health grade (A best, F worst).
-
Presto Player 100K+ installs · 4.8★ · 3 shared tags A -
FluentPlayer – Video Player With Forms & Lead Capture 2K+ installs · 4.3★ · 3 shared tags A -
mb.YTPlayer for background videos 1K+ installs · 4.0★ · 3 shared tags D -
VideoIgniter – Video Player 100+ installs · 3.6★ · 3 shared tags -
Advanced WordPress Backgrounds 30K+ installs · 4.6★ · 2 shared tags A -
All-in-One Video Gallery – Video Player & Galleries for YouTube, Vimeo & Self-Hosted Videos 20K+ installs · 4.8★ · 2 shared tags A
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for Chromeless YouTube into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/chromeless-youtube" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Chromeless YouTube — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> Chromeless YouTube: 20+ active installs, 3.0★ (1 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-10-31. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/chromeless-youtube
Spotted a number that looks wrong? Report a data issue and we'll check it against the source.