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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “page embeds”

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 “page embeds”, 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

Embed Optimizer shows at wp.org #9 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 50K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 14387 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #1 2 TablePress – Tables in WordPress made easy 600K+ · 5.0★ (4625) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 Page Builder by SiteOrigin 400K+ · 4.8★ (1005) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4699) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Simple Like Page – Fast & Privacy-Friendly Page Embeds 10K+ · 4.3★ (24) wp.org #2 3 too high 6 DearFlip – PDF Flipbook, 3D Flipbook, PDF embed, PDF viewer 200K+ · 4.9★ (194) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 Post and Page Builder by BoldGrid – Visual Drag and Drop Editor 50K+ · 4.7★ (140) wp.org #10 3 too low 8 PDF Embedder – PDF Viewer & Embed PDF Files for WordPress 300K+ · 4.7★ (529) wp.org #14 6 too low 9 LightStart – Maintenance Mode, Coming Soon and Landing Page Builder 400K+ · 4.3★ (874) wp.org #13 4 too low 10 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #21 11 too low 11 Embed PDF Viewer 20K+ · 4.7★ (19) wp.org #7 4 too high 12 Embed Plus for YouTube Gallery, Livestream and Lazy Loading with Facades 100K+ · 4.6★ (572) wp.org #19 7 too low 13 Hydrogen Calendar Embeds 1K+ · 4.5★ (6) wp.org #3 10 too high 14 I Insert Pages 30K+ · 4.8★ (71) wp.org #17 3 too low 15 AMP for WP – Accelerated Mobile Pages 70K+ · 4.4★ (1319) wp.org #24 9 too low 16 Bulk Page Generator and Mass Page Builder – Page Generator 3K+ · 4.6★ (70) wp.org #11 5 too high 17 Embed Privacy 10K+ · 4.9★ (26) wp.org #16 1 too high 18 Code Embed 10K+ · 4.4★ (45) wp.org #12 6 too high 19 Wonder PDF Embed 8K+ · 4.5★ (13) wp.org #20 1 too low 20 Pdf Embed 10K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #15 5 too high 21 Print Page Block – make any page printable in one click 1K+ · 4.9★ (7) wp.org #18 3 too high 22 Wonder Video Embed 4K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #23 1 too low 23 Embed Lottie Player – bring your pages to life with animation 4K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #22 1 too high 24 Embed Optimizer 50K+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #9 15 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.