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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “embed html”

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 “embed html”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 of the top 20.

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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Advance Custom HTML – Show Off Code Snippets with Live Preview shows at wp.org #13 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 2.5★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More places #8 on merit, 4.8★ from 14387 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 HTML Forms – Simple WordPress Forms Plugin 10K+ · 4.9★ (57) wp.org #1 ↑1 2 Code Embed 10K+ · 4.4★ (45) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 Embed Plus for YouTube Gallery, Livestream and Lazy Loading with Facades 100K+ · 4.6★ (572) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 TablePress – Tables in WordPress made easy 600K+ · 5.0★ (4625) wp.org #6 ↑3 2 too low 5 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #5 ↑1 6 Embed Privacy 10K+ · 4.9★ (26) wp.org #3 ↓2 3 too high 7 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #15 ↑1 8 too low 8 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #17 ↑1 9 too low 9 DearFlip – PDF Flipbook, 3D Flipbook, PDF embed, PDF viewer 200K+ · 4.9★ (194) wp.org #12 ↓7 3 too low 10 PDF Embedder – PDF Viewer & Embed PDF Files for WordPress 300K+ · 4.7★ (529) wp.org #16 ↓1 6 too low 11 Embed YouTube Block – Fast Loading Videos, Shorts & Playlists 6K+ · 5.0★ (16) wp.org #8 ↓1 3 too high 12 Maps Plugin using Google Maps for WordPress – WP Google Map 10K+ · 4.8★ (172) wp.org #19 ↑1 7 too low 13 HTML5 Video Player – embed fast, responsive videos with ease 20K+ · 4.6★ (195) wp.org #21 8 too low 14 Simple YouTube Embed 4K+ · 4.2★ (15) wp.org #9 ↓1 5 too high 15 Wonder Video Embed 4K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #7 8 too high 16 Embed Google Photos album 3K+ · 4.4★ (15) wp.org #14 2 too high 17 Embed Lottie Player – bring your pages to life with animation 4K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #10 7 too high 18 Hydrogen Calendar Embeds 1K+ · 4.5★ (6) wp.org #20 2 too low 19 PDF Embed Block – share documents right inside your posts 4K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #11 8 too high 20 Forward: Embed Image Links 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #22 ↑1 2 too low 21 Embed Chessboard 500+ · 4.0★ (3) wp.org #18 ↑1 3 too high 22 Init Embed Posts – Stylish, Fast, Portable 50+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #23 ↓1 1 too low 23 CodePen Embed Block 600+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 Advance Custom HTML – Show Off Code Snippets with Live Preview 10K+ · 2.5★ (4) wp.org #13 11 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.