Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 animations”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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

Animatikon – Scroll Animations & Motion Effects shows at wp.org #14 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 9 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

ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor places #8 on merit, 4.9★ from 2051 reviews, but shows at wp.org #13. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WPFront Scroll Top 200K+ · 4.9★ (142) wp.org #1 2 Page scroll to id 100K+ · 4.9★ (225) wp.org #2 3 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #5 ↓1 2 too low 4 Animations for Blocks 10K+ · 4.8★ (27) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #7 ↑1 2 too low 6 Blocks Animation: CSS Animations for Gutenberg Blocks 90K+ · 4.8★ (73) wp.org #6 ↓1 7 AnimateGL – WebGL & CSS Scroll Animations and Hover Effects for Gutenberg and Elementor 2K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #4 3 too high 8 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #13 ↓1 5 too low 9 HappyAddons for Elementor – 160 Elementor Widgets, GSAP Animations & Templates 400K+ · 4.8★ (489) wp.org #10 ↓3 1 too low 10 Greenshift – animation and page builder blocks 70K+ · 4.8★ (107) wp.org #8 ↓2 2 too high 11 Animation Addons – Elementor Addons, GSAP Animations, Elementor V4 Atomic Widgets & Elementor Templates 10K+ · 4.6★ (66) wp.org #11 ↑5 12 Block Animations, Motion & Scroll Effects – Ghost Kit 6K+ · 4.6★ (46) wp.org #12 ↑2 13 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #18 5 too low 14 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #23 ↓3 9 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 #22 6 too low 17 Superb Addons: Blocks, Patterns, Pre-built Pages, Sliders, Popups, Free Forms, Animations & More 80K+ · 4.9★ (23) wp.org #24 ↓3 7 too low 18 Animator – Scroll Triggered Animations 1K+ · 4.5★ (15) wp.org #17 ↓6 1 too high 19 SmartParallax – Parallax Scroll Effects & Scroll Animations 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #15 ↓2 4 too high 20 UiCore Animate – Free Animations, Transitions, and Interactions Addon for Elementor & Gutenberg blocks 40K+ · 3.2★ (10) wp.org #19 ↓2 1 too high 21 F Fast Smooth Scroll 800+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #21 ↓2 22 Scroll Down Arrow 900+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #20 ↓2 2 too high 23 Animatikon – Scroll Animations & Motion Effects 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↓4 9 too high 24 Animation Builder – An interface for adding scroll-triggered animations 1K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↓1 8 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.