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

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 “streams”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 3 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

WP Global Site Tag shows at wp.org #11 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 7K+ 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.

P

Buried gem

Page Links To places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 157 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 Flow-Flow Social Streams 7K+ · 3.3★ (100) wp.org #1 2 Stream – Activity Log & Audit Trail 70K+ · 4.3★ (76) wp.org #2 3 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 Embed Plus for YouTube Gallery, Livestream and Lazy Loading with Facades 100K+ · 4.6★ (572) wp.org #5 ↑2 1 too low 5 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Events Manager – Calendar, Bookings, Tickets, Appointments and more! 60K+ · 4.2★ (551) wp.org #8 ↓3 2 too low 7 EmbedPress 100K+ · 4.8★ (307) wp.org #10 ↑3 3 too low 8 HTML5 Audio Player – The Ultimate No-Code Podcast, MP3 & Audio Player 10K+ · 4.6★ (169) wp.org #12 ↑4 4 too low 9 P Page Links To 100K+ · 4.9★ (157) wp.org #18 ↑1 9 too low 10 Automatic YouTube Gallery – Embed Auto-Updating YouTube Video Galleries, Feeds, Playlists & Channels 9K+ · 4.8★ (31) wp.org #14 ↓2 4 too low 11 WpStream – Live Streaming, Video on Demand, Pay Per View 3K+ · 4.8★ (78) wp.org #16 ↓1 5 too low 12 MainWP Child Reports 100K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #4 ↓1 8 too high 13 GiveWP – Donation Plugin and Fundraising Platform 100K+ · 4.6★ (708) wp.org #21 8 too low 14 StreamWeasels Twitch Integration 1K+ · 4.8★ (23) wp.org #15 ↓1 1 too low 15 Like Button Rating ♥ LikeBtn 3K+ · 4.4★ (273) wp.org #22 ↑1 7 too low 16 Yandex Metrica 20K+ · 3.8★ (33) wp.org #13 ↓2 3 too high 17 Simply Disable Comments 8K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #9 8 too high 18 Disable WordPress Update Notifications and auto-update Email Notifications 10K+ · 4.2★ (19) wp.org #23 ↓1 5 too low 19 Media Stream (Bunny Stream Video Offload) 100+ · 4.3★ (4) wp.org #7 ↑1 12 too high 20 Live Shopping & Shoppable Videos For WooCommerce 300+ · 4.6★ (9) wp.org #20 ↓2 21 CiviCRM Admin Utilities 1K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 StreamCast – bring live radio to your site with a sleek player 1K+ · 4.9★ (7) wp.org #19 ↑1 3 too high 23 Curator.io 2K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #17 6 too high 24 WP Global Site Tag 7K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #11 ↓1 13 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.