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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “wordpress 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 “wordpress transitions”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 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 #8 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 500+ 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

Max Mega Menu places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 882 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 View Transitions 10K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 FancyBox for WordPress 30K+ · 4.6★ (92) wp.org #3 4 Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 bbPress 100K+ · 3.9★ (343) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Slider by Soliloquy – Responsive Image Slider for WordPress 30K+ · 4.7★ (1025) wp.org #12 6 too low 7 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #10 3 too low 8 All-in-One WP Migration and Backup 5M+ · 4.5★ (7676) wp.org #15 ↓1 7 too low 9 Performance Lab 100K+ · 4.3★ (51) wp.org #7 ↑1 2 too high 10 Max Mega Menu 300K+ · 4.8★ (882) wp.org #20 10 too low 11 Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4342) wp.org #17 ↓1 6 too low 12 Slider, Gallery, and Carousel by MetaSlider – Image Slider, Video Slider 500K+ · 4.6★ (742) wp.org #19 7 too low 13 Page Animations And Transitions 1K+ · 2.8★ (32) wp.org #4 9 too high 14 Safelayout Cute Preloader – CSS3 WordPress Preloader 10K+ · 5.0★ (84) wp.org #18 4 too low 15 WordPress Beta Tester 2K+ · 4.0★ (47) wp.org #9 6 too high 16 T Tooltips for WordPress 5K+ · 3.8★ (75) wp.org #11 5 too high 17 Matomo Analytics – Powerful, Privacy-First Insights for WordPress 100K+ · 4.6★ (178) wp.org #13 ↑4 4 too high 18 WPVR – 360 Panorama viewer and Virtual Tour Builder for WordPress 10K+ · 4.7★ (133) wp.org #23 ↓4 5 too low 19 Sticky Header Effects for Elementor 300K+ · 4.5★ (69) wp.org #22 3 too low 20 Cloudways WordPress Migrator 10K+ · 4.2★ (36) wp.org #16 ↓1 4 too high 21 Depicter — Popup & Slider Builder 70K+ · 4.6★ (235) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 Popup Box – Easily Create WordPress Popups 6K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #21 1 too high 23 Nice page transition 500+ · 4.2★ (6) wp.org #8 ↓1 15 too high 24 UiCore Animate – Free Animations, Transitions, and Interactions Addon for Elementor & Gutenberg blocks 40K+ · 3.2★ (10) wp.org #14 ↓1 10 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.