H5P
- wp.org slug:
h5p - Directory name: Interactive Content – H5P
- Evidence tier: Live bench — installed, activated, and measured on its own showcase subsite.
Identity and official links
H5P is a free, open-source HTML5 framework for reusable interactive content. On WordPress it publishes content through a single shortcode and can share or reuse .h5p packages across sites.
- WordPress.org directory: wordpress.org/plugins/h5p/
- H5P content types and applications: h5p.org/content-types-and-applications
- Installed version tested:
1.17.9
wordpress.org metrics (captured 2026-08-03)
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Version | 1.17.9 |
| Active installs | 40,000+ |
| Rating | 96 / 100 |
| Number of ratings | 61 |
| Last updated | 2026-07-30 |
| Tested up to | WordPress 7.0.2 |
| Requires WordPress | 3.8.1+ |
| Requires PHP | not specified |
Pricing and source
- Core plugin:
$0(GPL, wordpress.org). - Content libraries: free and open-source; installed from the H5P Hub or imported as
.h5ppackages. - Hosted service: H5P.com is a separate commercial hosted option and was not used here.
No paid, nulled, or trial code was installed. See the licensing and value notes for the showcase rule.
Live coverage: Standard Ten
H5P expresses the Standard Ten through a native H5P Question Set rendered inside its own iframe via the [h5p id="1"] shortcode. The live benchmark quiz is at /h5p/benchmark/ on the showcase subsite and the Core-Six-only measurement page is at /h5p/benchmark-core/.
| Question | Type | Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| Q1–Q6 | Core Six single-answer MCQ | ok |
| Q7 | Multiple-correct | unsupported |
| Q8 | True/false | unsupported |
| Q9 | Fill-in | unsupported |
| Q10 | Ordering | unsupported |
Q7–Q10 were not represented by the free library set installed on the live bench. The installed libraries were Question Set 1.3.2, Multichoice 1.3.0, Boardgame 1.3.0, Joubel UI 1.1.1, Font Awesome 4.1.2, and supporting libraries. Those libraries handle single-answer multiple choice but do not cover the extension question types in this benchmark, so the gaps are recorded as unsupported rather than assumed.
Observed completion
In a logged-out Chromium session the live benchmark was answered and submitted. H5P rendered its iframe, displayed the Core Six questions including the exact canonical atmosphere question from Q4, and reached the native result view:
Your result: Complete; You got 0 points of 6 possible.
This is recorded as a completion pass in showcase/evidence/coverage/h5p.json and in showcase/content/h5p/notes.md.
Runtime weight (benchmark-core)
Measured on WordPress 7.0.2 / PHP 8.3.33, cache disabled, logged out, networkidle2. See showcase/evidence/runtime-weight.json and the measurement notes.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Total requests | 21 |
| JS files | 12 |
| JS transfer | ~91.6 KB |
| CSS files | 8 |
| CSS transfer | ~11.8 KB |
| Total transfer | ~157.2 KB |
| jQuery | no |
| DOM nodes | 147 |
H5P’s front-end footprint is moderate: the iframe and its supporting assets add up to more transfer than the smallest roster plugins, but it remains well under the heaviest course/LMS stacks.
Signature demo: Question Set + Boardgame
The signature page is at /h5p/signature/ on the showcase subsite. It demonstrates H5P’s unique strength: a reusable, packaged interactive type beyond a simple quiz. The page hosts the official H5P Boardgame example imported as content ID 2 ([h5p id="2"]) alongside the native Question Set, showing how the same plugin can deliver branching board-game interactions and standard assessment questions from one library stack.
Catches and caveats
- Library-dependent coverage. H5P can only author question types that are installed as libraries. The free library set captured here covered single-answer multiple choice but not multiple-correct, true/false, fill-in, or ordering questions.
- Hub request did not complete. The H5P Hub consent screen appeared, but its content-type request did not finish in the live admin. The demo fell back to importing the official
boardgame.h5pexample through H5P > Libraries, which is recorded as a Hub failure rather than a workaround. - Coexistence console note. On the coexistence lab, H5P requested its content directory URL and received HTTP 403, yet the H5P iframe and native Question Set still rendered. The H5P Content top-level admin menu was also present.
- Smaller rating sample. The directory rating is strong (96/100) but drawn from only 61 ratings, a smaller sample than larger roster plugins.
Audit score
Weighted score from showcase/evidence/audit-scores.json: 78.78 / 100.
| Category | Score |
|---|---|
| Quiz depth | 9 / 10 |
| Author/learner UX | 7 / 10 |
| Logic, results, reporting | 7 / 10 |
| Integrations and data ownership | 8 / 10 |
| Value | 9 / 10 |
| Maintenance and trust | 7.52 / 10 |
The high depth and value scores reflect H5P’s open, reusable content model; the UX and logic scores are capped by the limited free library set and the Hub failure observed during provisioning.
Verdict
H5P is the roster choice when the goal is rich, reusable interactive content rather than a conventional WordPress quiz form. Its Question Set handles the Core Six cleanly inside a self-contained iframe, and the Boardgame demo shows the breadth possible with additional libraries. The free tier is genuinely free, but the installed library set is the real feature boundary: expect to import or build additional H5P libraries if you need multiple-correct, fill-in, ordering, or true/false questions. For assessment-only use cases that need those question types out of the box, one of the dedicated quiz plugins will cover more of the Standard Ten without extra library work.
See the other plugin dossiers or return to the comparison index.