Minimal Search Term Highlight vs String locator

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

Minimal Search Term Highlight

by mjke87

Health D41

String locator

by InstaWP

Health C63

Active-install trajectory

Not enough install history yet to chart a trajectory for both plugins. It builds as we snapshot daily.

Metric	Minimal Search Term Highlight	String locator
Active installs Modeled from the public "N+" band and recent downloads.	0–0	100K–200K ✓
Install trend Change in active installs across the charted window.	—	0% ✓
Overall health	D · 41	C · 63 ✓
Maintenance How recently the plugin was updated.	3/100	35/100 ✓
Rating quality Volume-adjusted review quality.	65/100	91/100 ✓
Support Share of forum threads marked resolved.	70/100	70/100
Rating (adjusted)	3.60★	4.58★ ✓
Reviews	0	125 ✓
Ranking optimization How well the listing is tuned to rank on wp.org.	36/100	69/100 ✓
Removal risk Maintenance signals that precede a wp.org closure. Not an official status.	High	Low ✓
Last updated	7.8y ago	1.7y ago ✓
Downloads · 30d	30	7.3K ✓
Category	Search	Search

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

Release activity

Minimal Search Term Highlight String locator

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.