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

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 “background animation”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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

Section Builder with Backgrounds – Customize with Color, Gradient, Image and Parallax. shows at wp.org #12 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor places #11 on merit, 4.9★ from 2051 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Slider Hero with Video Background, Animation 3K+ · 4.8★ (34) wp.org #1 2 Smart Slider 3 800K+ · 4.9★ (1125) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 Greenshift – animation and page builder blocks 70K+ · 4.8★ (107) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Animation Addons – Elementor Addons, GSAP Animations, Elementor V4 Atomic Widgets & Elementor Templates 10K+ · 4.6★ (66) wp.org #3 ↑2 1 too high 5 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #10 ↓1 5 too low 6 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 Full Screen Background 2K+ · 4.9★ (45) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 HappyAddons for Elementor – 160 Elementor Widgets, GSAP Animations & Templates 400K+ · 4.8★ (489) wp.org #7 1 too high 9 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #11 ↑1 2 too low 10 Advanced WordPress Backgrounds 30K+ · 4.8★ (44) wp.org #9 ↑1 1 too high 11 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #18 ↓1 7 too low 12 Otter Blocks – Gutenberg Blocks, Page Builder for Gutenberg Editor & FSE 300K+ · 4.7★ (251) wp.org #19 ↓4 7 too low 13 Safelayout Cute Preloader – CSS3 WordPress Preloader 10K+ · 5.0★ (84) wp.org #22 ↓2 9 too low 14 Block Animations, Motion & Scroll Effects – Ghost Kit 6K+ · 4.6★ (46) wp.org #14 ↑4 15 Superb Addons: Blocks, Patterns, Pre-built Pages, Sliders, Popups, Free Forms, Animations & More 80K+ · 4.9★ (23) wp.org #17 ↓1 2 too low 16 Marvy – Background Animations for Elementor 4K+ · 4.0★ (7) wp.org #5 ↓2 11 too high 17 Super block slider – Image/video background & content slider 8K+ · 5.0★ (14) wp.org #15 ↓1 2 too high 18 Depicter — Popup & Slider Builder 70K+ · 4.6★ (235) wp.org #24 ↓3 6 too low 19 AnimateGL – WebGL & CSS Scroll Animations and Hover Effects for Gutenberg and Elementor 2K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #21 2 too low 20 Scrollsequence – Cinematic Scroll Image Animation Plugin 3K+ · 4.6★ (19) wp.org #13 7 too high 21 aBlocks – Gutenberg Blocks, User Dashboard Builder, Popup Builder, Form Builder & Animation Builder 2K+ · 5.0★ (26) wp.org #23 2 too low 22 Embed Lottie Player – bring your pages to life with animation 4K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #20 ↓1 2 too high 23 AI website builder for the block editor and Elementor – Advanced Addons 600+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #16 7 too high 24 Section Builder with Backgrounds – Customize with Color, Gradient, Image and Parallax. 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 ↓1 12 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.