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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “mp4”

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 “mp4”, 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

WPZOOM Addons for Elementor – Starter Templates & Widgets shows at wp.org #9 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 20K+ 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

Easy Digital Downloads – eCommerce Payments and Subscriptions made easy places #9 on merit, 4.7★ from 591 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Video Popup – Video Lightbox for YouTube, Vimeo & MP4 10K+ · 4.5★ (43) wp.org #1 2 HTML5 Video Player – embed fast, responsive videos with ease 20K+ · 4.6★ (195) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 Product Video Gallery for Woocommerce 10K+ · 4.6★ (97) wp.org #3 4 Slider, Gallery, and Carousel by MetaSlider – Image Slider, Video Slider 500K+ · 4.6★ (743) wp.org #10 ↓2 6 too low 5 Video Popup Block – YouTube, Vimeo, TikTok Lightbox by WPZOOM 10K+ · 4.7★ (6) wp.org #2 3 too high 6 Wonder Slider Lite 8K+ · 4.2★ (24) wp.org #6 7 Videojs HTML5 Player 7K+ · 4.7★ (18) wp.org #7 ↓1 8 Video Gallery for WooCommerce – Add Product Video & Featured Video 4K+ · 5.0★ (44) wp.org #8 ↓1 9 Easy Digital Downloads – eCommerce Payments and Subscriptions made easy 40K+ · 4.7★ (591) wp.org #24 15 too low 10 CP Media Player – Audio Player and Video Player 3K+ · 4.4★ (46) wp.org #12 ↓1 2 too low 11 Photonic Gallery & Lightbox for Flickr, SmugMug & Others 10K+ · 4.8★ (193) wp.org #22 11 too low 12 Wonder Video Embed 4K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #5 7 too high 13 Preloader 10K+ · 4.1★ (41) wp.org #13 ↓4 14 FV Flowplayer Video Player 10K+ · 4.4★ (90) wp.org #14 15 Easy Video Player 20K+ · 4.2★ (57) wp.org #21 ↓1 6 too low 16 Custom Background Changer 1K+ · 4.9★ (7) wp.org #11 ↓1 5 too high 17 Super Video player – Fully Customizable Video Player with Playlist 2K+ · 4.2★ (30) wp.org #17 ↓1 18 Podlove Podcast Publisher 3K+ · 4.3★ (45) wp.org #18 19 Video Player Block – play videos beautifully on any device 2K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #15 ↑2 4 too high 20 Panorama – Turn Photos into Immersive Virtual Tours 2K+ · 4.3★ (9) wp.org #16 ↓4 4 too high 21 WPZOOM Addons for Elementor – Starter Templates & Widgets 20K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #9 ↓4 12 too high 22 Archive Page 700+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #23 ↓2 1 too low 23 WPZOOM Portfolio Lite – Filterable Portfolio Plugin 20K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #20 ↑3 3 too high 24 oEmbed External Video 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #19 ↓6 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.