404 Notifier

Reviewers say it does catch broken links, but they're getting flooded with one email per 404 instead of a daily digest, and its use of php mail() means missing Date headers and no SMTP plugin compatibility.

How well this listing is tuned to rank in WordPress.org search, on the factors an owner controls. Not popularity, optimization.

Directory searches this plugin turns up in, and which way each one is moving. WordPress.org publishes no history of search positions, so this starts the day we first tracked a keyword and never backfills.

Not enough tracked days yet to call a direction. Momentum needs at least three keywords measured a week or more apart.

wp.org is where the directory puts the plugin for that search. On merit is where it would sit if results were ranked on rating, support and updates, without the install boost. The last column is how far the wp.org position moved, from our first reading in the last 90 days to the latest.

0 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days. 4 of its tags aren't in the top 24 for their own search.

Directory rank vs rivals

wp.org popularity rank over time · higher is better · when a rival's line climbs above yours, they've overtaken you

How often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.

Share of active installs on each version of this plugin · 47% run the current release. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.

Crossed into this band 3 months ago and a band this size takes about a year or more to cross, so the real count is still just under 700.

1. ★★★★★ dtandersongb

   11.3y ago

   After installing the plugin I was deluged with email messages highlighting 404 errors. In one day I had 103 messages, so removed the plugin. The site I installed in is used for testing various CMS programs and I had deleted Joomla a couple of months ago. The 404 errors were all related to the Joomla installation. Perhaps installing on a purely WordPress site would be more suitable. Also, a better response would be to have a single message with all errors found in one day, week, or some configurable interval.

   Read on wp.org ↗
2. ★★★★★ Grzegorz.Janoszka

   12.6y ago

   Good plugin to check broken links and so on. It helped me a lot. There are unfortunately some issues – the plugin doesn’t send “Date: ” header and then its mails are caught as spam. Also I don’t understand the usage of php mail() instead of wp_mail(). The current setup makes this plugin incompatible with any SMTP plugin.

   Read on wp.org ↗

Automated install-time checks, tested on PHP 7.4.8 · WP 6.0

Whether ChatGPT and Claude name this plugin when asked the category question, and whether the readme gives them something to quote.

Not measured yet for this plugin’s topics. Its tracked searches are not among the measured topics. See the topics measured so far.

Growth timeline

Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow

1. 2026-08-02 700+ → 600+ down after 174 days in tier
2. 2026-02-09 800+ → 700+ down after 143 days in tier
3. 2025-09-19 900+ → 800+ down after 159 days in tier
4. 2025-04-13 1K+ → 900+ down after 922 days in tier
5. 2022-10-04 2K+ → 1K+ down after 1031 days in tier
6. 2019-12-08 3K+ → 2K+ down after 491 days in tier
7. 2018-08-04 6K+ → 3K+ down

Competes with

The plugins that solve the same job, ranked by shared tags then reach, closest match first. The letter on the right is each plugin's health grade (A best, F worst).

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404 Notifier: 600+ active installs, 3.0★ (2 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-10-31. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/404-notifier