Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “fade”

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 “fade”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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.

F

Ranked above its merit

Fade Slider shows at wp.org #2 but places #9 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Popup Maker – Boost Sales, Conversions, Optins, Subscribers with the Ultimate WP Popup Builder places #8 on merit, 4.9★ from 4514 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 Max Mega Menu 300K+ · 4.8★ (882) wp.org #1 2 Blocks Animation: CSS Animations for Gutenberg Blocks 90K+ · 4.8★ (73) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #4 ↑5 1 too low 4 Smart Slider 3 800K+ · 4.9★ (1125) wp.org #5 ↑6 1 too low 5 Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads 300K+ · 4.9★ (2433) wp.org #10 5 too low 6 WP Image Zoom 10K+ · 4.3★ (119) wp.org #6 ↓2 7 Image Hover Effects – Elementor Addon 40K+ · 4.9★ (83) wp.org #7 ↓1 8 Popup Maker – Boost Sales, Conversions, Optins, Subscribers with the Ultimate WP Popup Builder 600K+ · 4.9★ (4514) wp.org #22 14 too low 9 F Fade Slider 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #2 7 too high 10 AnimateGL – WebGL & CSS Scroll Animations and Hover Effects for Gutenberg and Elementor 2K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #8 2 too high 11 View Transitions 10K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #9 ↓2 2 too high 12 upPrev 1K+ · 4.6★ (126) wp.org #19 ↓14 7 too low 13 Animations for Blocks 10K+ · 4.8★ (27) wp.org #13 ↓1 14 Sticky Header Effects for Elementor 300K+ · 4.5★ (69) wp.org #17 3 too low 15 Timed Content 5K+ · 4.6★ (41) wp.org #14 1 too high 16 My WordPress Login Logo 10K+ · 4.9★ (12) wp.org #11 ↓3 5 too high 17 Product Carousel Slider & Grid Ultimate for WooCommerce 6K+ · 4.3★ (33) wp.org #18 1 too low 18 Overlay Image Divi Module 2K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #23 5 too low 19 Text Unfold For Elementor 3K+ · 4.6★ (7) wp.org #12 ↓2 7 too high 20 Splide Carousel Block 4K+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #24 ↓11 4 too low 21 Advanced Popups 60K+ · 4.0★ (9) wp.org #20 ↓1 1 too high 22 Image Ticker Carousel | by Creavi 500+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #15 ↑2 7 too high 23 Animate In View 1K+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #16 7 too high 24 Secondary Product Image for WooCommerce 2K+ · 3.5★ (2) wp.org #21 ↓5 3 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.