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

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 “motion”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 of the top 20. 4 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

neoMotion – Creative stop-motion editor for neoDraw shows at wp.org #7 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 20+ 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

Popup Builder – Create highly converting, mobile friendly marketing popups. places #10 on merit, 4.7★ from 2215 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #2 ↓1 1 too low 2 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 Block Animations, Motion & Scroll Effects – Ghost Kit 6K+ · 4.6★ (46) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 Marquee Addons for Elementor – Essential Motion Widgets & Templates 20K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #1 ↑2 3 too high 5 Animation Addons – Elementor Addons, GSAP Animations, Elementor V4 Atomic Widgets & Elementor Templates 10K+ · 4.6★ (66) wp.org #8 ↑4 3 too low 6 Slider, Gallery, and Carousel by MetaSlider – Image Slider, Video Slider 500K+ · 4.6★ (742) wp.org #12 6 too low 7 AI-Powered Carousel, Slider, Video & Photo Gallery Blocks by WP Carousel 60K+ · 4.7★ (434) wp.org #15 8 too low 8 Divi Carousel Lite – Make Carousels for Divi 5 30K+ · 4.8★ (146) wp.org #17 ↓4 9 too low 9 aBlocks – Gutenberg Blocks, User Dashboard Builder, Popup Builder, Form Builder & Animation Builder 2K+ · 5.0★ (26) wp.org #10 ↑10 1 too low 10 Popup Builder – Create highly converting, mobile friendly marketing popups. 200K+ · 4.7★ (2215) wp.org #24 14 too low 11 Page Builder: Pagelayer – Drag and Drop website builder 400K+ · 3.9★ (104) wp.org #19 ↓2 8 too low 12 GutSlider – All in One Slider and Carousel Blocks for Gutenberg 6K+ · 4.9★ (14) wp.org #13 ↓4 1 too low 13 Wexlab Motion Effects for Elementor 30+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #5 ↑2 8 too high 14 Jetpack VideoPress 7K+ · 4.0★ (16) wp.org #18 ↓3 4 too low 15 Embed Lottie Player – bring your pages to life with animation 4K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #9 ↓3 6 too high 16 Counting Number Block 2K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #20 ↓2 4 too low 17 Marquee Running Text 5K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #14 3 too high 18 RTMKit for Elementor – Modular Addons, Widgets, Templates, Icon Library, GSAP Animations, MCP & Store Ready 40K+ · 2.7★ (16) wp.org #11 7 too high 19 Animatikon – Scroll Animations & Motion Effects 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #6 ↓1 13 too high 20 F Fast Smooth Scroll 800+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #21 ↓2 1 too low 21 neoMotion – Creative stop-motion editor for neoDraw 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 14 too high 22 KineticHub – Animated Blocks 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #22 ↑1 23 Lordicon 600+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 ↓2 7 too high 24 Easy Auto Reload – Auto Refresh 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 ↓12 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.