Market reports
The state of each plugin market, read from our own data: who leads, who's slipping install tiers, how healthy the field is, and whether there's still room to build. Every claim in a report traces back to the signals shown alongside it.
Security 995 plugins · 25.7M+ installs Security is a closed market at the top, where four established plugins hold the installs and leave newcomers scrapping over hundreds. Report from 2026-08-31 Performance 1069 plugins · 24.6M+ installs Performance is a locked category where a dozen mature caching and image plugins hold the installs and newcomers top out in the hundreds. Report from 2026-08-31 Forms 1669 plugins · 24.2M+ installs Contact Form 7 still holds four in ten installs, but every serious challenger below it ships more often and rates better. Report from 2026-08-31 Page Builders 1269 plugins · 24.2M+ installs Elementor doesn't just lead page builders, it defines them, and nearly every growing plugin in the category is an accessory to it. Report from 2026-08-31 eCommerce 5545 plugins · 21.9M+ installs WooCommerce owns a third of eCommerce installs and the only real growth this quarter came from plugins solving one EU refund rule. Report from 2026-08-31 Blocks 1680 plugins · 21.2M+ installs Blocks is a category where the biggest names are still tools for avoiding blocks, and the new entrants are too small to threaten anyone. Report from 2026-08-31 SEO 1220 plugins · 19.4M+ installs Yoast and Rank Math hold most of SEO, but a wave of AI-search plugins is growing fast in a category whose downloads just halved. Report from 2026-08-31 Backup 257 plugins · 16.7M+ installs Backup is a locked category: six well-maintained incumbents hold the installed base, and every newcomer this quarter is still under 2,000 installs. Report from 2026-08-31 Admin & Utilities 3779 plugins · 14.6M+ installs Admin & Utilities is crowded at the bottom and stable at the top, with almost no path from one to the other. Report from 2026-08-31 Analytics 1028 plugins · 12.9M+ installs Google owns WordPress analytics twice over, and the only new plugins gaining installs are the ones solving problems Google won't touch. Report from 2026-08-31 Email & Marketing 1293 plugins · 12.8M+ installs Deliverability plugins own this category while actual email marketing tools stay small, and nothing new is breaking through. Report from 2026-08-31 Media 2193 plugins · 9.0M+ installs Media plugins are a settled market where the top names all ship regularly, and the only real churn is happening far below them. Report from 2026-08-31 Privacy & Consent 511 plugins · 5.7M+ installs Consent banners are a settled market with five entrenched leaders, and the only real growth is in narrow, country-specific compliance plugins. Report from 2026-08-10 Login & Users 1437 plugins · 5.5M+ installs WPS Hide Login owns more than a third of the category's installs, and everything below it is a crowded field of small, well-maintained tools with no real challenger. Report from 2026-08-10 Social 1132 plugins · 5.1M+ installs Smash Balloon has the feed shelf locked, while Meta's own plugins hold 800K installs on ratings no other top plugin would survive. Report from 2026-08-10 AI 1564 plugins · 4.2M+ installs Angie and the AI provider plugins are the real story: WordPress AI is still forming, with fast entries and just as fast collapses. Report from 2026-08-10 Multilingual 283 plugins · 3.9M+ installs Multilingual is a well-maintained oligopoly, and AI translation is arriving as add-ons bolted onto incumbents rather than as credible challengers. Report from 2026-08-10 Content & Feeds 775 plugins · 3.3M+ installs One Click Demo Import holds nearly a third of installs while the rest of the category is shrinking, and nobody new is getting close. Report from 2026-08-17 Chat & Support 671 plugins · 3.1M+ installs Chat & Support is a WhatsApp-button market where five well-maintained leaders hold the installed base and everything below them is churning micro-plugins. Report from 2026-08-17 Payments 1088 plugins · 2.9M+ installs WooCommerce's own gateways hold roughly two thirds of installs, while the best-maintained payment plugins sit an order of magnitude below them. Report from 2026-08-17 Search 608 plugins · 2.6M+ installs Search's biggest plugins are mostly migration tools, the real search incumbents are well maintained, and nothing new is close to breaking in. Report from 2026-08-17 Booking & Events 978 plugins · 2.5M+ installs Booking and events is a well-run category with no room at the top, and the churn is all happening far below the leaders. Report from 2026-08-17 Membership 179 plugins · 565.2K+ installs Membership is a stable category with healthy leaders, and the real movement is happening far below the top ten. Report from 2026-08-17 Education 169 plugins · 359.3K+ installs WordPress education plugins are a two-horse race at the top, with a wide, mostly stale tail and no sign of a newcomer breaking through. Report from 2026-08-17
Reports are written by a model reading Plugin Pulse's own measurements, never outside claims. The exact data behind each report is shown on its page. How this works.