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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “m4a”

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 “m4a”, 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Cleanup Orphan Images shows at wp.org #5 but places #14 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 100+ 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

Gallery – Photo Albums Plugin places #5 on merit, 3.8★ from 277 reviews, but shows at wp.org #9. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 CP Media Player – Audio Player and Video Player 3K+ · 4.4★ (46) wp.org #1 2 MP3 Audio Player – Music Player, Podcast Player & Radio by Sonaar 20K+ · 4.8★ (302) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 CatFolders Document Gallery & PDF Library 3K+ · 4.5★ (15) wp.org #3 4 Lean Player – Video and Audio Player with Playlist for WordPress, Elementor and Gutenberg 2K+ · 4.7★ (6) wp.org #2 2 too high 5 Gallery – Photo Albums Plugin 2K+ · 3.8★ (277) wp.org #9 4 too low 6 M MimeTypes Link Icons 8K+ · 5.0★ (26) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 Easy Media Download 8K+ · 4.0★ (28) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 Contest Gallery – Upload & Vote Photos, Media, Sell with PayPal & Stripe 1K+ · 4.4★ (89) wp.org #12 4 too low 9 Prevent Files / Folders Access 1K+ · 4.6★ (35) wp.org #11 2 too low 10 Radio Station by netmix® – Manage and play your Show Schedule in WordPress! 1K+ · 4.6★ (30) wp.org #13 3 too low 11 Audio Album 4K+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #10 1 too high 12 Cincopa video and media plug-in 1K+ · 2.8★ (26) wp.org #8 4 too high 13 Voice Audio Widgets – Voice recorder with Forms, AI Powered STT, TTS, Transcriptions, Language Teaching 300+ · 5.0★ (16) wp.org #16 ↑1 3 too low 14 Cleanup Orphan Images 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #5 9 too high 15 Transcoder 400+ · 3.6★ (8) wp.org #14 1 too high 16 Eskaptical Digital Product Uploader for WooCommerce — · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #24 ↓1 8 too low 17 GoDAM – Video Hosting for LMS & Online Courses 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #17 ↓2 18 Audio Preview for WooCommerce 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #18 19 DS Custom Audio Player 80+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 ↑1 4 too high 20 WordCast 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 1 too low 21 Stream Player by netmix® – Streaming audio for WordPress! 60+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 1 too low 22 Click Action Sounds – Click Sound Effects for Buttons, Links & Forms 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 1 too low 23 Studiolite — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 3 too high 24 Choon Player 40+ · 1.0★ (1) wp.org #19 5 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.