59
HTML5 Audio Player – The Ultimate No-Code Podcast, MP3 & Audio Player
Podcasters might find the free version a bit too quiet.
Declining
59/100
Many users feel the free version is too limited and report bugs or slow support.
Active installs
~60,000
our estimate · wp.org shows 10k+
Rating
4.6★
166 ratings
Trend · vs a year ago
-54%
Declining fast
132 → 61 installs/day
What to watch out for
- MINORreviews unevenly distributed over time
- MINORdownloads down 54% vs a year ago
Downloads over time
real new installs per day · release spikes shown separately from the trend2025-04-302025-08-082025-11-162026-02-232026-06-03
organicrelease spikerelease tailorganic trend · 14d rolling median
Declining fast · -54% in the last year
132/day a year ago→61/day today
Reviews
what people actually sayHTML5 Audio Player is regarded as a functional audio solution with helpful support for paying users, but its free version is seen as overly limited and users report bugs and inconsistent support.
What people like
- +Responsive and helpful customer support×3
- +Plugin meets user needs and works as advertised×2
Common complaints
- −Free version offers minimal functionality; many features and designs are locked behind the paid version×5
- −Support is often slow or unresponsive, especially after multiple issues×4
- −Various bugs and inconsistent functionality (e.g., missing Media Session API, playlist display issues, update errors)×5
- −Security vulnerability allowing stored XSS attacks
- −Download button cannot be disabled in free version, exposing audio files
- −Update error in version 2.13 (since 2.13)
Review trustMostly organic
- 4.13★Verified rating — drops from 4.60★ once one-shot reviewers are removed
- 32%One-shot reviewers — single-review accounts (common for popular plugins, but worth noting)
Reviews per month · 5★ vs lower
2023-07-202025-01-102026-06-04
5★ reviews1–4★ reviews
All-time ratings · 166 total
Latest reviews · 90 analyzed
- 2025-11-12★★★★★Bait and switch – nothing editable for freeMS416
- 2025-09-22★★★★★Horrible support, does not properly implement Media Session APIjamesynot
- 2025-09-01★★★★★All player designs are in Paid versionjusteaten
- 2024-11-05★★★★★Great Player, Easy Set-upwlmorphis1-shot
- 2024-10-24★★★★★Best and nicest plugin for me, thankshaebo54
- 2024-08-13★★★★★Speed control buttonsvoha888
- 2024-03-29★★★★★Outstanding Product and Supporthoffmaw
- 2023-09-20★★★★★Update 2.13 has error456he4v5454bg5g4
- 2023-09-05★★★★★Lost money.leszekjan541-shot
- 2023-07-20★★★★★need a updatesanderswihlgaard
Releases
recent versions from WordPress.org SVNAlternatives to HTML5 Audio Player
Top Media plugins, ranked by score.For developers & the curious
the raw signals behind the grade — none of this is on the friendly summary aboveDownload signals
Baselines are computed on organic days only — release spikes and their tails are excluded, so they're not inflated by the auto-update wave.
62
Baseline · median of last 7 organic days
59
Prior 7-day baseline
180
Floor · 25th percentile over 14 days
2,907
Mean release-day peak (30d)
152
Latest day · 2026-06-03(spike)
+5.1%
Week-over-week organic trend
Review signals
Concentration and drive-by metrics drive the review-burst and fake-review flags. 30–40% solo reviewers is normal; we only flag the extremes.
20%
Max month share · biggest single 30-day window
1.82
Distribution CV · <0.6 even, >1.5 bursty
82%
5★ share in analyzed sample
32%
Solo reviewers · only this one wp.org activity
-100%
Volume velocity · last 6mo vs prior 6mo
4.38 → 4.13★
Sample avg · raw → solo-filtered