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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “fade 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 “fade effect”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 3 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.

F

Ranked above its merit

Fade Slider shows at wp.org #11 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 9 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

Max Mega Menu places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 882 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. 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 Image Hover Effects – Elementor Addon 40K+ · 4.9★ (83) wp.org #2 3 Modula Image Gallery – Photo Grid & Video Gallery 100K+ · 4.7★ (616) wp.org #3 4 Image Hover Effects Ultimate ( Image Gallery, Effects, Lightbox, Comparison & Magnifier ) 10K+ · 4.7★ (250) wp.org #4 5 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #5 6 WP Snow Effect 1K+ · 4.9★ (390) wp.org #8 ↓1 2 too low 7 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #14 ↓1 7 too low 8 AnimateGL – WebGL & CSS Scroll Animations and Hover Effects for Gutenberg and Elementor 2K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #6 ↑6 2 too high 9 View Transitions 10K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #7 ↓1 2 too high 10 WP Image Zoom 10K+ · 4.3★ (119) wp.org #10 ↓2 11 Max Mega Menu 300K+ · 4.8★ (882) wp.org #19 8 too low 12 Block Animations, Motion & Scroll Effects – Ghost Kit 6K+ · 4.6★ (46) wp.org #9 ↑2 3 too high 13 Robo Gallery – Photo & Image Slider 40K+ · 4.3★ (406) wp.org #18 ↓1 5 too low 14 Blocks Animation: CSS Animations for Gutenberg Blocks 90K+ · 4.8★ (73) wp.org #16 ↓1 2 too low 15 Product Carousel Slider & Grid Ultimate for WooCommerce 6K+ · 4.3★ (33) wp.org #12 3 too high 16 Super block slider – Image/video background & content slider 8K+ · 5.0★ (14) wp.org #13 ↓3 3 too high 17 Timed Content 5K+ · 4.6★ (41) wp.org #22 ↓1 5 too low 18 Overlay Image Divi Module 2K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #15 ↓1 3 too high 19 TWB Woocommerce Reviews 600+ · 4.8★ (26) wp.org #24 ↓2 5 too low 20 F Fade Slider 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #11 ↓2 9 too high 21 Parallax Section Block – Add Parallax Scrolling Effects to Sections 3K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #17 ↓1 4 too high 22 Marquee Running Text 5K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #20 ↓2 2 too high 23 Marquee Addons for Elementor – Essential Motion Widgets & Templates 20K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #23 24 Video Popup – Youtube, Vimeo, Gutenberg, Shortcode, Elementor 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #21 ↓1 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.