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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “live streaming”

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 “live streaming”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 of the top 20. 4 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

Castio.live – WordPress Streaming Plugin with Chat (HLS) shows at wp.org #8 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 20+ 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

Presto Player places #6 on merit, 4.8★ from 346 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 WpStream – Live Streaming, Video on Demand, Pay Per View 3K+ · 4.8★ (78) wp.org #1 2 Masteriyo LMS – LMS Course Builder, Quizzes & Certificates 6K+ · 4.8★ (184) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 EmbedPress 100K+ · 4.8★ (307) wp.org #6 ↑4 3 too low 4 Feeds for YouTube (YouTube video, channel, and gallery plugin) 100K+ · 4.8★ (205) wp.org #11 ↓1 7 too low 5 WPBot – AI ChatBot for Live Support, Lead Generation, WordPress Automation, AI Services 5K+ · 4.7★ (124) wp.org #7 ↓1 2 too low 6 Presto Player 100K+ · 4.8★ (346) wp.org #18 ↑3 12 too low 7 MP3 Audio Player – Music Player, Podcast Player & Radio by Sonaar 20K+ · 4.8★ (302) wp.org #14 7 too low 8 HTML5 Video Player – embed fast, responsive videos with ease 20K+ · 4.6★ (195) wp.org #20 ↑4 12 too low 9 Broadcast Live Video – Live Streaming : WebRTC, HLS, RTSP, RTMP 400+ · 2.7★ (14) wp.org #2 7 too high 10 MxChat – AI Chatbot & Content Generation for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (31) wp.org #10 ↑4 11 Chatroll Live Chat 200+ · 4.0★ (5) wp.org #4 7 too high 12 HTML5 Audio Player – The Ultimate No-Code Podcast, MP3 & Audio Player 10K+ · 4.6★ (169) wp.org #21 ↓4 9 too low 13 Movie Engine – OTT Streaming Platform for Movies & TV Series 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #5 ↑2 8 too high 14 Instant Indexing for Google 200K+ · 3.6★ (36) wp.org #12 ↓1 2 too high 15 StreamCast – bring live radio to your site with a sleek player 1K+ · 4.9★ (7) wp.org #9 ↓3 6 too high 16 Live Auto Refresh (Hot Reload / Live Reload for WordPress Developers) 100+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #13 ↓1 3 too high 17 Cryptocurrency Price Widget 200+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #16 ↑2 1 too high 18 Paid Videochat Turnkey Site – HTML5 PPV Live Webcams 10+ · 4.2★ (22) wp.org #19 1 too low 19 Castio.live – WordPress Streaming Plugin with Chat (HLS) 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #8 ↓3 11 too high 20 AI Chatbot & Live Chat – WebChatAgent 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 5 too high 21 Media Player Addons for Elementor – Audio and Video Widgets for Elementor 1K+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #17 ↑2 4 too high 22 Forerunner® AI Live Chat 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 Plug-N-Meet web conference integration 100+ · 3.5★ (2) wp.org #23 24 FV Player 8 1K+ · 4.0★ (2) wp.org #22 2 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.