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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “transitions”

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 “transitions”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

Nice page transition shows at wp.org #6 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 700+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.2★ average from 6 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Slider by Soliloquy – Responsive Image Slider for WordPress places #10 on merit, 4.7★ from 1026 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 View Transitions 10K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #1 2 bbPress 100K+ · 3.9★ (342) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Max Mega Menu 300K+ · 4.8★ (878) wp.org #8 ↑1 5 too low 4 Blocks Animation: CSS Animations for Gutenberg Blocks 90K+ · 4.7★ (70) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too low 5 Page Animations And Transitions 1K+ · 2.8★ (32) wp.org #2 3 too high 6 Prime Slider – Hero Slider, Carousel, WooCommerce & Post Slider Elementor Addons 100K+ · 4.5★ (82) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7303) wp.org #9 ↓1 2 too low 8 Meow Lightbox 10K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #12 4 too low 9 Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4340) wp.org #11 2 too low 10 Slider by Soliloquy – Responsive Image Slider for WordPress 30K+ · 4.7★ (1026) wp.org #18 ↑1 8 too low 11 Sticky Header Effects for Elementor 300K+ · 4.5★ (69) wp.org #10 1 too high 12 Master Slider – Responsive Touch Slider 60K+ · 4.6★ (503) wp.org #15 ↑1 3 too low 13 Flying Pages: Preload Pages for Faster Navigation & Improved User Experience 20K+ · 4.9★ (79) wp.org #20 ↑1 7 too low 14 Greenshift – animation and page builder blocks 70K+ · 4.8★ (107) wp.org #13 ↑1 1 too high 15 Gutenberg Essential Blocks – Page Builder for Gutenberg Blocks & Patterns 200K+ · 4.9★ (213) wp.org #23 8 too low 16 Kirki – Freeform Page Builder, Website Builder & Customizer 500K+ · 4.5★ (81) wp.org #17 ↑1 1 too low 17 UiCore Animate – Free Animations, Transitions, and Interactions Addon for Elementor & Gutenberg blocks 40K+ · 3.2★ (10) wp.org #4 13 too high 18 Performance Lab 100K+ · 4.3★ (51) wp.org #19 ↑1 1 too low 19 Super block slider – Image/video background & content slider 8K+ · 5.0★ (14) wp.org #16 ↑1 3 too high 20 Nice page transition 700+ · 4.2★ (6) wp.org #6 ↓1 14 too high 21 Hover Effects – easily create any hover effect 7K+ · 4.8★ (17) wp.org #21 ↑1 22 Splide Carousel Block 3K+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 Animation Builder – An interface for adding scroll-triggered animations 900+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↑1 9 too high 24 PageFluent – Smooth Page Transitions & Loader 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 ↑2 2 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.