Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “embedded”, we and wp.org disagree 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 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

Embedded Posts shows at wp.org #2 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 50+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

DearFlip – PDF Flipbook, 3D Flipbook, PDF embed, PDF viewer places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 194 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 wp.org
1 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1668) wp.org #4 ↑2 3 too low 2 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #5 3 too low 3 Subscribe Forms – Beautiful Email Forms, Embedded Newsletter Forms & MailChimp Form 2K+ · 4.7★ (60) wp.org #3 4 WP Eventbrite Embedded Checkout – Ticket Checkout Block, Popup & Elementor Widget 700+ · 4.8★ (4) wp.org #1 3 too high 5 Use Any Font | Custom Font Uploader 200K+ · 4.7★ (1148) wp.org #10 ↑1 5 too low 6 EmbedPress 100K+ · 4.8★ (307) wp.org #7 ↑1 1 too low 7 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #6 ↓2 1 too high 8 Post Type Switcher 200K+ · 4.8★ (255) wp.org #12 ↑1 4 too low 9 Embed Plus for YouTube Gallery, Livestream and Lazy Loading with Facades 100K+ · 4.6★ (572) wp.org #14 ↑1 5 too low 10 DearFlip – PDF Flipbook, 3D Flipbook, PDF embed, PDF viewer 200K+ · 4.9★ (194) wp.org #18 ↓6 8 too low 11 Embed Privacy 10K+ · 4.9★ (26) wp.org #11 ↓2 12 Enable Media Replace 600K+ · 4.4★ (302) wp.org #19 7 too low 13 WPSSO Core – Complete Schema Markup and Meta Tags 4K+ · 4.6★ (306) wp.org #23 ↓2 10 too low 14 Better Messages – Chat Rooms, Group Chat, Private Messages & AI Chat Bots 10K+ · 4.8★ (142) wp.org #24 10 too low 15 Embed PDF Viewer 20K+ · 4.7★ (19) wp.org #13 ↑1 2 too high 16 Popup Builder & Popup Maker for WordPress – OptinMonster Email Marketing and Lead Generation 1M+ · 4.3★ (821) wp.org #22 ↓2 6 too low 17 ImageMagick Engine 60K+ · 4.4★ (16) wp.org #16 ↑1 1 too high 18 TraveledMap Trip itinerary: Embedded map 80+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #8 ↓1 10 too high 19 Embedded Posts 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #2 17 too high 20 Very Simple Google Maps 3K+ · 4.5★ (17) wp.org #20 ↓1 21 involve.me – Create Surveys, Quizzes, Calculators & Forms as Embedded Widgets or Pop-ups 400+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #9 ↑1 12 too high 22 GDPRess | Eliminate external requests to increase GDPR compliance 1K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #21 ↑1 1 too high 23 FareHarbor for WordPress 9K+ · 4.3★ (4) wp.org #15 ↑3 8 too high 24 ANON::form embedded secure form 10+ · 5.0★ (1) 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.