Debug Bar Rewrite Rules vs Rewrite Rule Testing

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

Debug Bar Rewrite Rules

by Oleg Butuzov

Health C55

Rewrite Rule Testing

by Matthew Boynes

Health D45

Active-install trajectory

Debug Bar Rewrite Rules Rewrite Rule Testing

Active installs, each indexed to 100 at the start of the window. A line above 100 is growing its install base, below 100 is shrinking.

Metric	Debug Bar Rewrite Rules	Rewrite Rule Testing
Active installs Modeled from the public "N+" band and recent downloads.	700–800 ✓	300–400
Install trend Change in active installs across the charted window.	-22%	0% ✓
Overall health	C · 55 ✓	D · 45
Maintenance How recently the plugin was updated.	22/100 ✓	3/100
Rating quality Volume-adjusted review quality.	81/100 ✓	76/100
Support Share of forum threads marked resolved.	70/100	70/100
Rating (adjusted)	4.22★ ✓	4.06★
Reviews	5 ✓	2
Ranking optimization How well the listing is tuned to rank on wp.org.	64/100 ✓	35/100
Removal risk Maintenance signals that precede a wp.org closure. Not an official status.	Elevated ✓	High
Last updated	2.1y ago ✓	12.3y ago
Downloads · 30d	412	799 ✓
Category	Uncategorized	Uncategorized

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

Release activity

Debug Bar Rewrite Rules Rewrite Rule Testing

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.