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

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 “interactive background”, 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

Ultimate Cursor – Interactive and Animated Custom Cursor and Background Effects Toolkit shows at wp.org #7 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 3K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.5★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 3221 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 MapGeo – Interactive Geo Maps 30K+ · 4.4★ (65) wp.org #1 2 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 Open User Map – Interactive Leaflet Maps 10K+ · 5.0★ (70) wp.org #5 ↑1 2 too low 4 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2143) wp.org #8 4 too low 5 Interactive Image Map Builder 1K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #3 2 too high 6 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #6 ↑1 7 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #9 ↓1 2 too low 8 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #14 6 too low 9 3D FlipBook – PDF Embedder, PDF Flipbook Viewer, Flipbook Image Gallery 70K+ · 4.8★ (182) wp.org #10 ↓1 1 too low 10 Video Background Block – Add Stunning Video Backgrounds to Any Section 2K+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #2 8 too high 11 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #18 ↓2 7 too low 12 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #19 7 too low 13 Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528) wp.org #24 11 too low 14 3D Viewer – Turn Product Pages into Interactive 3D Experiences 9K+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #12 2 too high 15 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #22 ↓1 7 too low 16 Super block slider – Image/video background & content slider 8K+ · 5.0★ (14) wp.org #11 ↓1 5 too high 17 Depicter — Popup & Slider Builder 70K+ · 4.6★ (235) wp.org #20 ↓2 3 too low 18 MapSVG – Vector maps, Image maps, Google Maps 1K+ · 4.5★ (31) wp.org #17 ↓3 1 too high 19 SilentShield – Captcha & Anti-Spam for WordPress (CF7, WPForms, Elementor, WooCommerce) 10K+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #15 4 too high 20 Interactive US Map – Create Clickable & Customizable U.S. Maps 200+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #13 ↓2 7 too high 21 Ultimate Cursor – Interactive and Animated Custom Cursor and Background Effects Toolkit 3K+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #7 ↓2 14 too high 22 Swipe Slider – Make dynamic slider with solid, gradient, or image background 3K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #16 ↓3 6 too high 23 3D Viewer Block – Bring Your Products to Life with Interactive 3D 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #21 ↓4 2 too high 24 Ninja Charts – Interactive Charts and Graphs 3K+ · 3.0★ (6) wp.org #23 ↓3 1 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.