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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “scroll animation”

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 “scroll animation”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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.

Ranked above its merit

Animation Builder – An interface for adding scroll-triggered animations shows at wp.org #8 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 1K+ 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

Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets places #11 on merit, 4.9★ from 4132 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Blocks Animation: CSS Animations for Gutenberg Blocks 90K+ · 4.8★ (73) wp.org #1 2 WPFront Scroll Top 200K+ · 4.9★ (142) wp.org #2 3 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #6 ↓1 3 too low 4 Greenshift – animation and page builder blocks 70K+ · 4.8★ (107) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Page scroll to id 100K+ · 4.9★ (225) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Animation Addons – Elementor Addons, GSAP Animations, Elementor V4 Atomic Widgets & Elementor Templates 10K+ · 4.6★ (66) wp.org #5 ↑2 1 too high 7 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #10 3 too low 8 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #16 8 too low 9 AnimateGL – WebGL & CSS Scroll Animations and Hover Effects for Gutenberg and Elementor 2K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #7 2 too high 10 HappyAddons for Elementor – 160 Elementor Widgets, GSAP Animations & Templates 400K+ · 4.8★ (489) wp.org #11 ↓3 1 too low 11 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #22 ↓3 11 too low 12 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #18 ↑5 6 too low 13 Block Animations, Motion & Scroll Effects – Ghost Kit 6K+ · 4.6★ (46) wp.org #13 ↑2 14 Animations for Blocks 10K+ · 4.8★ (27) wp.org #15 ↓2 1 too low 15 Scrollsequence – Cinematic Scroll Image Animation Plugin 3K+ · 4.6★ (19) wp.org #9 6 too high 16 Smooth Back To Top Button 40K+ · 4.9★ (31) wp.org #21 5 too low 17 LottieFiles – JSON Based Animation Lottie & Bodymovin for Elementor 3K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #14 ↓2 3 too high 18 Better Block Editor (BBE) 6K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #23 5 too low 19 F Fast Smooth Scroll 800+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #12 ↓1 7 too high 20 Animator – Scroll Triggered Animations 1K+ · 4.5★ (15) wp.org #24 ↓4 4 too low 21 SmartParallax – Parallax Scroll Effects & Scroll Animations 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #17 ↓3 4 too high 22 Animation Builder – An interface for adding scroll-triggered animations 1K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 ↓2 14 too high 23 Scroll Down Arrow 900+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #20 ↓2 3 too high 24 Animatikon – Scroll Animations & Motion Effects 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↓2 5 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.