Pending Email SMTP vs SMTP Mailer

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

SMTP Mailer is the safest pick: health A · 88 against 46 for Pending Email SMTP, led by lower removal risk.

Pending Email SMTP

by binmaocom

Health D46

SMTP Mailer

by Noor Alam

Health A88

Active-install trajectory

Pending Email SMTPSMTP Mailer

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	Pending Email SMTP	SMTP Mailer
Active installs Modeled from the public "N+" band and recent downloads.	80–90	70K–80K ✓
Active installs, change over ~6 months Compares the public install bands. One band step shows as the band change, not a percentage.	-20%	Stable ✓
Overall health	D · 46	A · 88 ✓
Maintenance How recently the plugin was updated.	3/100	100/100 ✓
Rating quality Volume-adjusted review quality.	78/100	87/100 ✓
Support Share of forum threads marked resolved.	70/100	70/100
Rating (weighted for review count)	4.1★	4.5★ ✓
Reviews	3	67 ✓
Ranking optimization How well the listing is tuned to rank on wp.org.	42/100	95/100 ✓
Removal risk Maintenance signals that precede a wp.org closure. Not an official status.	Elevated	Low ✓
Last updated	5.5y ago	2mo ago ✓
Downloads, last 30d	94	13.5K ✓
Download momentum, last 30d vs prior 30d Dips that follow a release spike are normal: wp.org counts every update as a download, so the weeks after a release run lower.	+99%	-16%
Install conversion Active installs over lifetime downloads. Downloads include every update, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower.	2.1%	4.6% ✓
Category	Email & Marketing	Email & Marketing

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

Release activity

Pending Email SMTPSMTP Mailer

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.