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

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 “plyr”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 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

Gallery for Google Photos – share your albums right on your site shows at wp.org #10 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 2.7★ average from 6 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Text To Speech TTS Accessibility places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 92 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 Video Player for YouTube – Embed Videos Your Visitors Will Love to Watch 1K+ · 4.8★ (12) wp.org #2 3 Protected Video 1K+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #3 4 EmbedPress – PDF Embedder, 3D PDF FlipBook, Google Reviews, YouTube Videos, Upload & Embed PDF documents 100K+ · 4.8★ (306) wp.org #9 5 too low 5 Video Player Block – play videos beautifully on any device 2K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Shared Albums for Google Photos 400+ · 4.9★ (9) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 Text To Speech TTS Accessibility 4K+ · 4.8★ (92) wp.org #22 15 too low 8 StreamCast – bring live radio to your site with a sleek player 1K+ · 4.8★ (6) wp.org #5 3 too high 9 bSlider – Build Sliders That Bring Your Content to Life 6K+ · 4.0★ (11) wp.org #6 3 too high 10 All In One Lightbox – show any media in beautiful popups 3K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #7 3 too high 11 Smart Variations Images & Swatches for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.7★ (142) wp.org #19 8 too low 12 Super Video player – Fully Customizable Video Player with Playlist 2K+ · 4.2★ (30) wp.org #21 9 too low 13 Video Gallery Block – showcase your videos in a filterable gallery 1K+ · 4.2★ (6) wp.org #11 2 too high 14 Lean Player – Video and Audio Player with Playlist for WordPress, Elementor and Gutenberg 2K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #20 6 too low 15 Jassn Video Posts Feed Block — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 3 too high 16 DinoFolio — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 ↑4 3 too high 17 Kreva SRT Subtitles for Tutor LMS — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↓1 3 too high 18 Media Fields for Contact Form 7 – Video, Audio, 3D, Gallery and PDF Fields — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 ↓1 3 too high 19 Kubelio Payment Confirmation for WooCommerce 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↓1 3 too high 20 Gallery for Google Photos – share your albums right on your site 1K+ · 2.7★ (6) wp.org #10 10 too high 21 L Lean Video and Audio Player 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 ↓1 4 too high 22 A Awesome Lightbox — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 4 too high 23 Mattytap Sermons 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 24 Smart Featured Videos for WooCommerce 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24

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.