wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “animation effect”

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 “animation effect”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

Animation Builder – An interface for adding scroll-triggered animations shows at wp.org #11 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Image Hover Effects Ultimate ( Image Gallery, Effects, Lightbox, Comparison & Magnifier ) places #12 on merit, 4.7★ from 250 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Blocks Animation: CSS Animations for Gutenberg Blocks 90K+ · 4.8★ (73) wp.org #1 2

Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #2 3

Greenshift – animation and page builder blocks 70K+ · 4.8★ (107) wp.org #3 4

ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #6 ↑2 2 too low 5

Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #8 ↑3 3 too low 6

Animation Addons – Elementor Addons, GSAP Animations, Elementor V4 Atomic Widgets & Elementor Templates 10K+ · 4.6★ (66) wp.org #5 1 too high 7

Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #9 2 too low 8

Weather Effect 4K+ · 4.5★ (30) wp.org #4 4 too high 9

Sticky Header Effects for Elementor 300K+ · 4.5★ (69) wp.org #7 ↓1 2 too high 10

HappyAddons for Elementor – 160 Elementor Widgets, GSAP Animations & Templates 400K+ · 4.8★ (489) wp.org #13 ↓6 3 too low 11

Depicter — Popup & Slider Builder 70K+ · 4.6★ (236) wp.org #12 ↑2 1 too low 12

Image Hover Effects Ultimate ( Image Gallery, Effects, Lightbox, Comparison & Magnifier ) 10K+ · 4.7★ (250) wp.org #17 5 too low 13

WP Snow Effect 1K+ · 4.9★ (390) wp.org #19 6 too low 14

Block Animations, Motion & Scroll Effects – Ghost Kit 6K+ · 4.6★ (46) wp.org #10 ↑5 4 too high 15

Robo Gallery – Photo & Image Slider 40K+ · 4.3★ (406) wp.org #20 ↑1 5 too low 16

Product Gallery Slider, Additional Variation Images for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.6★ (160) wp.org #24 8 too low 17

AnimateGL – WebGL & CSS Scroll Animations and Hover Effects for Gutenberg and Elementor 2K+ · 5.0★ (22) thin reviews wp.org #14 ↓2 3 too high 18

Slider Hero with Video Background, Animation 3K+ · 4.8★ (34) wp.org #16 2 too high 19

LottieFiles – JSON Based Animation Lottie & Bodymovin for Elementor 3K+ · 5.0★ (8) thin reviews wp.org #15 ↓2 4 too high 20

Hover Effects – easily create any hover effect 7K+ · 4.8★ (17) thin reviews wp.org #22 2 too low 21

Animated Text Block – Add Typing and Looping Text Effects 4K+ · 4.8★ (5) thin reviews wp.org #23 2 too low 22

Advanced Marquee Effect for Elementor – Smooth Marquee, News Ticker, Image Box & Icon Box Marquee 2K+ · 4.7★ (6) thin reviews wp.org #21 ↓1 1 too high 23

Advanced Image Hover Effect for Elementor 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #18 5 too high 24

Animation Builder – An interface for adding scroll-triggered animations 1K+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #11 ↓1 13 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.