Query Posts vs Display Posts

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

Query Posts

by Justin Tadlock

Health D42

Display Posts

by Bill Erickson

Health C63

Active-install trajectory

Query Posts Display Posts

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	Query Posts	Display Posts
Active installs Modeled from the public "N+" band and recent downloads.	700–800	80K–90K ✓
Install trend Change in active installs across the charted window.	-22%	0% ✓
Overall health	D · 42	C · 63 ✓
Maintenance How recently the plugin was updated.	3/100	29/100 ✓
Rating quality Volume-adjusted review quality.	67/100	96/100 ✓
Support Share of forum threads marked resolved.	70/100	70/100
Rating (adjusted)	3.67★	4.78★ ✓
Reviews	4	164 ✓
Ranking optimization How well the listing is tuned to rank on wp.org.	36/100	77/100 ✓
Removal risk Maintenance signals that precede a wp.org closure. Not an official status.	High	Low ✓
Last updated	8.8y ago	1.9y ago ✓
Downloads · 30d	107	3.7K ✓
Category	Admin & Utilities	Uncategorized

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

Release activity

Query Posts Display Posts

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.