Auto-slug vs Custom Permalinks

Head-to-head on the signals that matter, from the public WordPress.org data.

Health D45

Health B84

Active-install trajectory

Auto-slug moved down one install band, 50+ to 30+. That's a single step across the whole window, so there's no trajectory to draw. The download trend below moves daily.

Metric	Auto-slug	Custom Permalinks
Active installs Modeled from the public "N+" band and recent downloads.	30–40	100K–200K ✓
Install trend Change in active installs across the charted window.	-40%	0% ✓
Overall health	D · 45	B · 84 ✓
Maintenance How recently the plugin was updated.	3/100	100/100 ✓
Rating quality Volume-adjusted review quality.	76/100	77/100 ✓
Support Share of forum threads marked resolved.	70/100	70/100
Rating (adjusted)	4.06★	4.07★ ✓
Reviews	2	116 ✓
Ranking optimization How well the listing is tuned to rank on wp.org.	36/100	96/100 ✓
Removal risk Maintenance signals that precede a wp.org closure. Not an official status.	High	Low ✓
Last updated	11.3y ago	20d ago ✓
Downloads · 30d	48	92.8K ✓
Install conversion Active installs over lifetime downloads. Downloads include every update, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower.	0.9%	3.7% ✓
Category	Uncategorized	SEO

✓ marks the stronger plugin on each row. Rows where they're level show no marker.

Release activity

Auto-slugCustom Permalinks

7-day average daily downloads. Downloads spike for about a week after each release as the install base re-downloads, so read this as release cadence, not growth.