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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “background 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 “background effects”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 2 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 #7 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 16 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

Modula Image Gallery – Photo Grid & Video Gallery places #12 on merit, 4.7★ from 616 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Sticky Header Effects for Elementor 300K+ · 4.5★ (69) wp.org #1 2 Maintenance 1M+ · 4.4★ (869) wp.org #3 ↑3 1 too low 3 Image Hover Effects Ultimate ( Image Gallery, Effects, Lightbox, Comparison & Magnifier ) 10K+ · 4.7★ (250) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too low 4 Image Hover Effects – Elementor Addon 40K+ · 4.9★ (83) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too low 5 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #12 ↑2 7 too low 6 Advanced WordPress Backgrounds 30K+ · 4.8★ (44) wp.org #6 ↑3 7 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #10 ↑3 3 too low 8 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #14 ↑2 6 too low 9 Full Screen Background 2K+ · 4.9★ (45) wp.org #8 ↓1 1 too high 10 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #13 ↓2 3 too low 11 Unlimited Elements for Elementor 300K+ · 4.8★ (525) wp.org #17 ↑5 6 too low 12 Modula Image Gallery – Photo Grid & Video Gallery 100K+ · 4.7★ (616) wp.org #22 ↑2 10 too low 13 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #21 ↓3 8 too low 14 Slider, Gallery, and Carousel by MetaSlider – Image Slider, Video Slider 500K+ · 4.6★ (742) wp.org #23 9 too low 15 Ultimate Cursor – Interactive and Animated Custom Cursor and Background Effects Toolkit 3K+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #2 13 too high 16 Flipbox – Awesomes Flip Boxes Image Overlay 9K+ · 4.7★ (149) wp.org #19 ↓2 3 too low 17 Super block slider – Image/video background & content slider 8K+ · 5.0★ (14) wp.org #11 ↓1 6 too high 18 Slider Hero with Video Background, Animation 3K+ · 4.8★ (34) wp.org #16 ↓4 2 too high 19 Block Animations, Motion & Scroll Effects – Ghost Kit 6K+ · 4.6★ (46) wp.org #20 ↑1 1 too low 20 Weather Effect 4K+ · 4.5★ (30) wp.org #18 ↓3 2 too high 21 AnimateGL – WebGL & CSS Scroll Animations and Hover Effects for Gutenberg and Elementor 2K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 Video Background Block – Add Stunning Video Backgrounds to Any Section 2K+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #9 ↓1 13 too high 23 Section Builder with Backgrounds – Customize with Color, Gradient, Image and Parallax. 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 ↓2 16 too high 24 Image Background Remover 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 ↑4 9 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.