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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “html5 video”

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 “html5 video”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

Video Gallery shows at wp.org #14 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 600+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress places #10 on merit, 4.5★ from 155 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 HTML5 Video Player – embed fast, responsive videos with ease 20K+ · 4.6★ (195) wp.org #1 2 All-in-One Video Gallery – Video Player & Galleries for YouTube, Vimeo & Self-Hosted Videos 20K+ · 4.8★ (136) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 Easy Video Player 20K+ · 4.2★ (57) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too low 4 HTML5 Audio Player – The Ultimate No-Code Podcast, MP3 & Audio Player 10K+ · 4.6★ (169) wp.org #5 ↓3 1 too low 5 Videojs HTML5 Player 7K+ · 4.7★ (18) wp.org #3 ↑1 2 too high 6 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #7 ↑2 1 too low 7 Product Video Gallery for Woocommerce 10K+ · 4.6★ (97) wp.org #8 1 too low 8 Advanced Responsive Video Embedder for Rumble, Odysee, YouTube, Vimeo, Kick … 20K+ · 4.2★ (169) wp.org #15 ↑1 7 too low 9 Video Player Block – play videos beautifully on any device 2K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #6 3 too high 10 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #22 ↓1 12 too low 11 Super Video player – Fully Customizable Video Player with Playlist 2K+ · 4.2★ (30) wp.org #11 12 Video Grid 1K+ · 4.4★ (15) wp.org #13 1 too low 13 FV Flowplayer Video Player 10K+ · 4.4★ (90) wp.org #17 ↑1 4 too low 14 Vimeotheque – Vimeo WordPress Plugin & Video Gallery 2K+ · 4.6★ (26) wp.org #20 6 too low 15 PlayerJS – Free Custom HTML5 Video and Audio Player Builder 900+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #9 ↓2 6 too high 16 Lean Player – Video and Audio Player with Playlist for WordPress, Elementor and Gutenberg 2K+ · 4.7★ (6) wp.org #10 6 too high 17 Video Background Block – Add Stunning Video Backgrounds to Any Section 2K+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #12 5 too high 18 Video Gallery – YouTube, Vimeo & Video Slider with Lightbox 1K+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #16 ↑1 2 too high 19 SmartVideo – Video Player and CDN 1K+ · 4.1★ (19) wp.org #21 ↑1 2 too low 20 Video Gallery Block – showcase your videos in a filterable gallery 1K+ · 4.2★ (6) wp.org #18 ↓3 2 too high 21 Video Gallery – YouTube, Vimeo Gallery & YouTube API 1K+ · 4.0★ (7) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 Video Gallery 600+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #14 8 too high 23 oEmbed External Video 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #19 4 too high 24 Video Player for WPBakery 2K+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #23 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.