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

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 effect”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

SmartParallax – Parallax Scroll Effects & Scroll Animations shows at wp.org #12 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 612 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Sticky Header Effects for Elementor 300K+ · 4.5★ (69) wp.org #1 2

Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #4 2 too low 3

WPFront Scroll Top 200K+ · 4.9★ (142) wp.org #3 ↓1 4

Block Animations, Motion & Scroll Effects – Ghost Kit 6K+ · 4.6★ (46) heavy footprint wp.org #2 ↑1 2 too high 5

ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #7 2 too low 6

Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) not PHP-currentheavy footprint wp.org #8 2 too low 7

Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) not PHP-current wp.org #10 ↓1 3 too low 8

MouseWheel Smooth Scroll 90K+ · 4.5★ (44) wp.org #6 ↓1 2 too high 9

Weather Effect 4K+ · 4.5★ (30) not PHP-current wp.org #5 ↑1 4 too high 10

AnimateGL – WebGL & CSS Scroll Animations and Hover Effects for Gutenberg and Elementor 2K+ · 5.0★ (22) thin reviews wp.org #9 1 too high 11

Image Hover Effects – Elementor Addon 40K+ · 4.9★ (83) wp.org #16 ↓2 5 too low 12

Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #21 ↓4 9 too low 13

Unlimited Elements for Elementor 300K+ · 4.8★ (525) wp.org #23 10 too low 14

Image Hover Effects Ultimate ( Image Gallery, Effects, Lightbox, Comparison & Magnifier ) 10K+ · 4.7★ (250) wp.org #22 ↓2 8 too low 15

Blocks Animation: CSS Animations for Gutenberg Blocks 90K+ · 4.8★ (73) wp.org #17 ↓2 2 too low 16

Advanced WordPress Backgrounds 30K+ · 4.8★ (44) wp.org #15 ↑7 1 too high 17

jQuery Smooth Scroll 10K+ · 4.5★ (47) wp.org #14 ↓1 3 too high 18 S Surbma | Smooth Scroll 2K+ · 4.7★ (14) thin reviews wp.org #11 ↓1 7 too high 19

Hash Link Scroll Offset 1K+ · 5.0★ (14) thin reviews wp.org #19 ↓3 20

Confetti – Celebration Effects for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (49) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #24 ↓3 4 too low 21

Parallax Section Block – Add Parallax Scrolling Effects to Sections 3K+ · 4.3★ (6) not PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #13 ↓1 8 too high 22

SmartParallax – Parallax Scroll Effects & Scroll Animations 100+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #12 ↓1 10 too high 23

Advanced Marquee Effect for Elementor – Smooth Marquee, News Ticker, Image Box & Icon Box Marquee 2K+ · 4.7★ (6) thin reviews wp.org #20 ↓1 3 too high 24

Advanced Image Hover Effect for Elementor 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #18 6 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.