Tag Widget vs Essential Widgets

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

Health D42

Health B80

Active-install trajectory

Tag Widget moved down one install band, 200+ to 100+. That's a single step across the whole window, so there's no trajectory to draw. The download trend below moves daily.

Metric	Tag Widget	Essential Widgets
Active installs Modeled from the public "N+" band and recent downloads.	100–200	10K–20K ✓
Install trend Change in active installs across the charted window.	-50%	0% ✓
Overall health	D · 42	B · 80 ✓
Maintenance How recently the plugin was updated.	3/100	94/100 ✓
Rating quality Volume-adjusted review quality.	67/100	71/100 ✓
Support Share of forum threads marked resolved.	70/100	70/100
Rating (weighted for review count)	3.7★	3.8★ ✓
Reviews	1	2 ✓
Ranking optimization How well the listing is tuned to rank on wp.org.	36/100	90/100 ✓
Removal risk Maintenance signals that precede a wp.org closure. Not an official status.	High	Low ✓
Last updated	13.6y ago	5mo ago ✓
Downloads · 30d	95	2.2K ✓
Install conversion Active installs over lifetime downloads. Downloads include every update, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower.	1.0%	1.9% ✓
Category	Admin & Utilities	Uncategorized

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

Release activity

Tag WidgetEssential Widgets

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.