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

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 “wistia”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

FV Player 8 shows at wp.org #11 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Gallery by Visual Portfolio places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 340 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 EmbedPress 100K+ · 4.8★ (307) wp.org #1 2 Robo Gallery – Photo & Image Slider 40K+ · 4.3★ (406) wp.org #2 ↑7 3 Envira Gallery – Image Photo Gallery, Albums, Video Gallery, Slideshows & More 100K+ · 4.7★ (1597) wp.org #5 ↓2 2 too low 4 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too high 5 Video Gallery – YouTube Gallery, Vimeo, Video Portfolio, Image Portfolio and Image Gallery 10K+ · 4.8★ (182) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Slider by Soliloquy – Responsive Image Slider for WordPress 30K+ · 4.7★ (1025) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 Custom Product Tabs for WooCommerce & WordPress Tabs Builder – Smart Tabs 10K+ · 4.9★ (134) wp.org #10 ↓6 3 too low 8 AI-Powered Carousel, Slider, Video & Photo Gallery Blocks by WP Carousel 60K+ · 4.7★ (434) wp.org #12 ↓7 4 too low 9 Unlimited Elements for Elementor 300K+ · 4.8★ (525) wp.org #14 ↑6 5 too low 10 WPSSO Core – Complete Schema Markup and Meta Tags 4K+ · 4.6★ (306) wp.org #13 ↓1 3 too low 11 Gallery by Visual Portfolio 50K+ · 4.8★ (340) wp.org #21 ↓5 10 too low 12 Advanced Responsive Video Embedder for Rumble, Odysee, YouTube, Vimeo, Kick … 20K+ · 4.2★ (169) wp.org #15 ↓2 3 too low 13 NitroPack – Performance, Page Speed & Cache Plugin for Core Web Vitals, CDN & Image Optimization 80K+ · 4.3★ (311) wp.org #18 5 too low 14 Wonder Video Embed 4K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #4 ↑20 10 too high 15 Photo Gallery – Image, Video & Portfolio 1K+ · 4.8★ (13) wp.org #9 ↑2 6 too high 16 Video Playlist for YouTube 1K+ · 4.7★ (7) wp.org #7 9 too high 17 Video Dashboard 600+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #16 ↓2 1 too high 18 Video Gallery Block – showcase your videos in a filterable gallery 1K+ · 4.2★ (6) wp.org #20 ↓1 2 too low 19 Lazy load videos and sticky control 80+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #17 ↓2 2 too high 20 Video Gallery – YouTube, Vimeo Gallery & YouTube API 1K+ · 4.0★ (7) wp.org #22 ↓1 2 too low 21 Experience API for TutorLMS by GrassBlade 200+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↓2 2 too high 22 FV Player 8 1K+ · 4.0★ (2) wp.org #11 ↓1 11 too high 23 Experience API for LifterLMS by Grassblade 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 ↓1 1 too low 24 Experience API for LearnPress by GrassBlade 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 ↓1 1 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.