WP Plugin Animate It
Review

Animate It!

Animate It! is a WordPress plugin developed by eLEOPARD Design Studios, that was released on 2014-09-12. With over 20 000+ active installations it has established itself as a useful tool for adding dynamic CSS3 animations to posts, widgets, and pages. What makes Animate It special is the wide range of animations it offers - over 50 entrance and exit variants as well as attention-grabbing animations are available. This makes it easy to increase the visual appeal of websites. The ability to trigger animations on scroll, click, or hover, and the customizable control of duration and delay, also offer high flexibility. The main target audience consists of WordPress users who want to visually enhance their content with attractive animations. The plugin is rated 4.9 out of 5 stars with 127 reviews in the official WordPress Plugin Directory. The following section looks more closely at the plugin's specific features.

"This plugin integrates great animations and is easy to use. Top!"

Features - Diverse animation options and controls

The "Animate It!" plugin offers an impressive variety of features that set it apart from other animation plugins. In addition to the already mentioned over 50 different entrance and exit animations as well as attention animations, the plugin also allows detailed control of animation duration and delay. Another prominent feature is support for custom CSS classes, which lets users tailor animations individually and thus create even more diverse design possibilities. This brings a higher degree of flexibility in application development.

"This plugin is exactly what I was looking for - simple, lightweight, and with many useful options."

Free Features - Comprehensive tools for free use

• Apply CSS3 animations to posts, widgets, and pages - Apply animations to various content.
• 50+ entrance, exit, and attention-grabbing animations - Different animation options for creative designs.
• Apply animations on scroll - Enables animations triggered by scrolling.
• Different scroll offsets for individual animation blocks - Control the start position of animations.
• Apply animations on click and hover - Interactive animations triggered by user actions.
• Delay and control functions for animation duration - Create appealing animation sequences.
• Editor button to create animation blocks - Easy insertion of animations into posts.
• Apply animations to WordPress widgets - Use the Class Generator to create custom animations.
• Completely disable animations on mobile devices - Improve the mobile user experience.
• Support for Spanish and German - Multilingual support.
• Compatibility with Gutenberg blocks - Integration of animations into other block types.

License - Free use with extensive functionality

The "Animate It!" plugin is free to use, making it a financially attractive solution for many WordPress users. Despite being free, it is generally regarded by users as very valuable, especially compared to some paid alternatives. This appreciation is also reflected in the numerous positive reviews, which praise not only the functionality but also the support. Even though there is no Pro version, the free version offers an impressive amount of functionality that covers many requirements.

"This plugin is easy to use, lightweight, and offers many useful options."

Technical details - Insights for developers

When developing the "Animate It!" plugin, care was taken to integrate technical tools that are relevant to both developers and technically savvy users. This includes support for shortcodes, hooks, and an API that allow animations to be implemented flexibly. In addition, the so-called Class Generator provides a way to efficiently create the required animation classes. This feature makes it easier for developers to manage custom animations by integrating them directly into the website's existing storage structure. Despite the many features, the advantage of the plugin lies particularly in its lean design, which keeps the code footprint minimal and thus does not unnecessarily increase the site's loading times.

System requirements - Compatibility requirements at a glance

To use the "Animate It!" plugin successfully, it requires at least PHP version 7.4 or higher. The minimum required WordPress version is 4.7.0 or higher, ensuring that even older installations can benefit from the animation features. The plugin has been thoroughly tested up to WordPress version 6.8.5, providing a high degree of reliability and stability. Since the last update in 2025-11, which carries plugin version number 2.7, no significant changes to the system requirements have been made, indicating continuous maintenance and development.

"The plugin impresses with its versatility and runs smoothly even on older WordPress versions."

Quality - Reliability and Flexibility in Use

The WordPress plugin "Animate It!" convinces with its high quality, which is particularly evident in the reliability and flexibility of its animation features. The ability to precisely control animation duration and delay gives animated elements a balanced mix of prominence and usability. Users appreciate the resource-efficient design of the plugin, which ensures that website performance is hardly affected even with complex animations. Another quality aspect is support for custom CSS classes, which increases flexibility when customizing animations. Taken together, this contributes to a high-quality user experience without negatively impacting page load times. Despite occasional ambiguities in the distinction between free and pro features, the plugin overall offers a reliable and flexible solution for animation needs.

"Great plugin! It creates beautiful animations without slowing the site down!"

Support - Fast Help and Useful Community Assistance

Support for the "Animate It!" plugin is highly appreciated by users, mainly for its quick response times and helpful assistance. Although the plugin description does not specify contact options or response times, many users report positive experiences with the development team. The official support area in the WordPress Plugin Directory provides a platform for user questions and problem solving. Additionally, some users describe direct support from the developer as helpful.

"I had an issue with animations restarting after the page fully loaded. The author put a lot of effort into finding a solution. Now everything is fine."

Rating - High User Satisfaction

The WordPress plugin "Animate It!" is very popular and has an impressive average rating of 4.9 from a total of 127 reviews. Users particularly praise the ease of use and the variety of animations offered. Many reviews highlight the uncomplicated use and high-quality animations.

A commonly cited positive aspect is the time savings the plugin provides compared to manual animation. Users also appreciate the friendly and helpful support from the developer. The solid functionality and customization options of the plugin are frequently mentioned in reviews.

"This plugin offers great animations and is easy to use. Top!"

Despite the overall satisfaction, there are also negative voices. Some users report occasional complications when integrating with certain themes and a lack of advanced features that might be expected in a paid version. Another less positive feedback concerns the learning curve at first use, mostly caused by previous ambiguity in implementing the shortcodes.

"At first I was confused by the shortcodes, but the developer was patient and helped me."

Overall, however, the positive aspects clearly outweigh the negatives, and many users are very satisfied with the performance and the easy customization options.

"This is a really nice plugin, well documented and easy to use! The time saved compared to hand-coding these animations is amazing."

Criticism - User Issues and Potential Improvements

The "Animate It!" plugin, while praised for its positive qualities, has also received criticism related to certain usability aspects and missing features. A frequently mentioned criticism is the unclear distinction between basic and pro functions, which has confused some users. In addition, compatibility issues with the Gutenberg block editor are a major criticism, as the plugin appears to be primarily optimized for the classic editor. Users report difficulties integrating animations into the newer editor, which can limit the plugin's use.

Security concerns or specific vulnerabilities were not explicitly mentioned in the available information, suggesting this has not been a dominant topic among users so far. Nevertheless, more detailed documentation and greater transparency regarding potential security aspects could help further strengthen trust in its safe use.

Suggestions for improvement include extending compatibility to the block editor and clearer labeling of functionalities to avoid unwanted surprises. A stronger integration with the latest WordPress features and themes like Astra and Kadence could also be beneficial to gain broader acceptance.

"Some features are not clearly labeled as belonging to the free or pro version; therefore I uninstalled it."

Conclusion - Versatility with Room for Improvement

The WordPress plugin "Animate It!" from eLEOPARD Design Studios offers an impressive variety of animation possibilities and proves to be a valuable tool for users looking to enhance their websites visually. Notable are the flexibility and the many control options the plugin provides. Especially support for custom CSS classes and the ability to trigger animations by various user actions set it apart from other plugins. Despite the free model, "Animate It!" offers surprising functionality that is popular with many users, even though confusion about the availability of certain features occasionally occurs.

Improvement potential lies in optimized support for the Gutenberg block editor and clearer communication of available features. Positive reviews and excellent support from the development team contribute to the plugin's popularity, reflected in high user satisfaction. Overall, "Animate It!" is a suitable choice for users who want powerful and flexible animations on their WordPress websites.