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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “animated effects”

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 “animated effects”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 of the top 20. 5 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

Ultimate Cursor – Interactive and Animated Custom Cursor and Background Effects Toolkit shows at wp.org #8 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 3K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.5★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 2528 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 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #1 2 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #2 3 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #9 ↑2 5 too low 5 Slider, Gallery, and Carousel by MetaSlider – Image Slider, Video Slider 500K+ · 4.6★ (742) wp.org #12 ↑2 7 too low 6 Unlimited Elements for Elementor 300K+ · 4.8★ (525) wp.org #14 ↓1 8 too low 7 Animated Text Block – Add Typing and Looping Text Effects 4K+ · 4.8★ (5) wp.org #3 ↑3 4 too high 8 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #18 10 too low 9 Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528) wp.org #21 ↑1 12 too low 10 Animated Headline 2K+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #4 ↓1 6 too high 11 Flipbox – Awesomes Flip Boxes Image Overlay 9K+ · 4.7★ (149) wp.org #17 ↓1 6 too low 12 HappyAddons for Elementor – 160 Elementor Widgets, GSAP Animations & Templates 400K+ · 4.8★ (489) wp.org #16 ↓1 4 too low 13 Animated Blocks on Scroll 2K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #7 6 too high 14 Animated Floating Chat Button 4K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #6 ↓2 8 too high 15 Gutenberg Essential Blocks – Page Builder for Gutenberg Blocks & Patterns 100K+ · 4.9★ (216) wp.org #24 ↓1 9 too low 16 Block Animations, Motion & Scroll Effects – Ghost Kit 6K+ · 4.6★ (46) wp.org #15 ↑4 1 too high 17 Animated Live Wall Gallery 1K+ · 4.4★ (14) wp.org #10 ↓1 7 too high 18 Weather Effect 4K+ · 4.5★ (30) wp.org #13 ↓1 5 too high 19 AnimateGL – WebGL & CSS Scroll Animations and Hover Effects for Gutenberg and Elementor 2K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #23 4 too low 20 Fullscreen Menu 2K+ · 4.7★ (14) wp.org #20 ↓3 21 Jeg Kit for Elementor – Powerful Addons for Elementor, Widgets & Templates for WordPress 300K+ · 3.8★ (79) wp.org #19 ↑1 2 too high 22 Ultimate Cursor – Interactive and Animated Custom Cursor and Background Effects Toolkit 3K+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #8 14 too high 23 Animated Number Counters 2K+ · 3.4★ (5) wp.org #11 ↓1 12 too high 24 Text Typing – grab attention with animated typing headlines 3K+ · 3.8★ (6) wp.org #22 ↓1 2 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.