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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “motion 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 “motion effects”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

Animatikon – Scroll Animations & Motion Effects shows at wp.org #5 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 40+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Slider, Gallery, and Carousel by MetaSlider – Image Slider, Video Slider places #8 on merit, 4.6★ from 742 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. 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 #1 2 Image Hover Effects Ultimate ( Image Gallery, Effects, Lightbox, Comparison & Magnifier ) 10K+ · 4.7★ (250) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Sticky Header Effects for Elementor 300K+ · 4.5★ (69) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #8 ↓1 4 too low 5 Block Animations, Motion & Scroll Effects – Ghost Kit 6K+ · 4.6★ (46) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too high 6 Logo Carousel – Responsive Logo Slider, Logo Showcase, and Clients Logo Gallery 20K+ · 4.7★ (162) wp.org #11 5 too low 7 Animation Addons – Elementor Addons, GSAP Animations, Elementor V4 Atomic Widgets & Elementor Templates 10K+ · 4.6★ (66) wp.org #9 2 too low 8 Slider, Gallery, and Carousel by MetaSlider – Image Slider, Video Slider 500K+ · 4.6★ (742) wp.org #20 12 too low 9 AnimateGL – WebGL & CSS Scroll Animations and Hover Effects for Gutenberg and Elementor 2K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #10 ↑11 1 too low 10 Gutenberg Essential Blocks – Page Builder for Gutenberg Blocks & Patterns 100K+ · 4.9★ (216) wp.org #18 ↓4 8 too low 11 Page Builder: Pagelayer – Drag and Drop website builder 400K+ · 3.9★ (104) wp.org #15 ↓3 4 too low 12 aBlocks – Gutenberg Blocks, User Dashboard Builder, Popup Builder, Form Builder & Animation Builder 2K+ · 5.0★ (26) wp.org #19 ↓4 7 too low 13 Marquee Addons for Elementor – Essential Motion Widgets & Templates 20K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #7 ↑1 6 too high 14 Jeg Kit for Elementor – Powerful Addons for Elementor, Widgets & Templates for WordPress 300K+ · 3.8★ (79) wp.org #14 ↓3 15 Animated Text Block – Add Typing and Looping Text Effects 4K+ · 4.8★ (5) wp.org #13 2 too high 16 Wexlab Motion Effects for Elementor 30+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #6 10 too high 17 Animatikon – Scroll Animations & Motion Effects 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #5 ↓1 12 too high 18 Parallax Section Block – Add Parallax Scrolling Effects to Sections 3K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #17 ↑2 1 too high 19 Ultimate Cursor – Interactive and Animated Custom Cursor and Background Effects Toolkit 3K+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #12 ↓2 7 too high 20 SmartParallax – Parallax Scroll Effects & Scroll Animations 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #21 ↓5 1 too low 21 RTMKit for Elementor – Modular Addons, Widgets, Templates, Icon Library, GSAP Animations, MCP & Store Ready 40K+ · 2.7★ (16) wp.org #22 ↓5 1 too low 22 FaeCursor – Interaction Effects Toolkit 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 ↓3 6 too high 23 neoMotion – Creative stop-motion editor for neoDraw 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 ↓5 24 Amedea – Unique Design Elements for Elementor 500+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24 ↓4

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.