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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “page 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 “page effects”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 6 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

Confetti – Celebration Effects for WordPress shows at wp.org #12 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 49 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #1 2 Sticky Header Effects for Elementor 300K+ · 4.5★ (69) wp.org #2 3 Image Hover Effects Ultimate ( Image Gallery, Effects, Lightbox, Comparison & Magnifier ) 10K+ · 4.7★ (250) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Image Hover Effects – Elementor Addon 40K+ · 4.9★ (83) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Loading Page with Loading Screen 10K+ · 4.6★ (124) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #7 ↑1 1 too low 7 Hover Effects – easily create any hover effect 7K+ · 4.8★ (17) wp.org #3 4 too high 8 CMS Tree Page View – Reorder Pages with a Drag-and-Drop Tree 50K+ · 4.9★ (365) wp.org #9 ↓2 1 too low 9 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #11 ↑5 2 too low 10 Post and Page Builder by BoldGrid – Visual Drag and Drop Editor 50K+ · 4.7★ (140) wp.org #10 ↑1 11 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #13 ↓1 2 too low 12 Greenshift – animation and page builder blocks 70K+ · 4.8★ (107) wp.org #8 ↑1 4 too high 13 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #20 7 too low 14 Gutenberg Essential Blocks – Page Builder for Gutenberg Blocks & Patterns 100K+ · 4.9★ (216) wp.org #14 ↑5 15 Nested Pages 90K+ · 4.7★ (126) wp.org #16 ↓1 1 too low 16 Modula Image Gallery – Photo Grid & Video Gallery 100K+ · 4.7★ (616) wp.org #24 8 too low 17 Otter Blocks – Gutenberg Blocks, Page Builder for Gutenberg Editor & FSE 300K+ · 4.7★ (251) wp.org #17 ↓4 18 Flipbox – Awesomes Flip Boxes Image Overlay 9K+ · 4.7★ (149) wp.org #19 ↓2 1 too low 19 Confetti – Celebration Effects for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (49) wp.org #12 ↓2 7 too high 20 Kirki – Freeform Page Builder, Website Builder & Customizer 400K+ · 4.5★ (81) wp.org #21 ↓3 1 too low 21 Block Animations, Motion & Scroll Effects – Ghost Kit 6K+ · 4.6★ (46) wp.org #18 ↑4 3 too high 22 Weather Effect 4K+ · 4.5★ (30) wp.org #15 ↓1 7 too high 23 Smart Attachment Page Remove 900+ · 4.7★ (13) wp.org #22 1 too high 24 Classic Addons – WPBakery Page Builder 3K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 ↓2 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.