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

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 menu”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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

Animated Number Counters shows at wp.org #11 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.4★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Unlimited Elements for Elementor places #8 on merit, 4.8★ from 525 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Max Mega Menu 300K+ · 4.8★ (882) wp.org #1 2 Responsive Menu – Mobile Menu & Hamburger Menu Builder 70K+ · 4.5★ (576) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 WP Mobile Menu – The Mobile-Friendly Responsive Menu 70K+ · 4.7★ (256) wp.org #4 5 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #6 ↑1 1 too low 6 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #8 ↓2 2 too low 7 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #12 ↓1 5 too low 8 Unlimited Elements for Elementor 300K+ · 4.8★ (525) wp.org #16 ↑1 8 too low 9 Fullscreen Menu 2K+ · 4.7★ (14) wp.org #5 4 too high 10 Simple Floating Menu 10K+ · 5.0★ (38) wp.org #10 ↓1 11 Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528) wp.org #19 8 too low 12 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #17 ↓1 5 too low 13 Slider, Gallery, and Carousel by MetaSlider – Image Slider, Video Slider 500K+ · 4.6★ (743) wp.org #18 5 too low 14 Master Addons for Elementor – Elementor Addons, Widgets, Mega Menu Builder, Popup Builder, Widget Builder & Template Kits 30K+ · 4.5★ (212) wp.org #20 6 too low 15 Animated Floating Chat Button 4K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #7 ↑1 8 too high 16 Animated Live Wall Gallery 1K+ · 4.4★ (14) wp.org #13 ↑1 3 too high 17 Animated Text Block – Add Typing and Looping Text Effects 4K+ · 4.8★ (5) wp.org #9 ↑1 8 too high 18 Groovy Menu Plugin (Free) 4K+ · 3.6★ (25) wp.org #15 3 too high 19 Side Menu Lite – Sticky Floating Side Menu 7K+ · 4.0★ (12) wp.org #14 ↓1 5 too high 20 Animated Number Counters 2K+ · 3.4★ (5) wp.org #11 ↑1 9 too high 21 Text Typing – grab attention with animated typing headlines 3K+ · 3.8★ (6) wp.org #22 ↑2 1 too low 22 Ultimate Cursor – Interactive and Animated Custom Cursor and Background Effects Toolkit 3K+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #21 ↑1 1 too high 23 Block Metrics – Animated State Counter 50+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #23 24 WP GIF Uploader – Animated GIF Upload and Thumbnails 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24

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.