Plugin Pulse
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Category Featured Images

by Mat · Uncategorized

Also makes 1 other plugin · 800+ installs across the portfolio →

Free audit wp.org ↗

Set a featured image for all the posts of a category.

⚠ Stale⚠ Likely abandoned
How scoring works →
47 Health · D
Maintenance 3/100
Rating quality 81/100
Support 70/100

47 health vs 56 average across 16,376 Uncategorized plugins

600+

Active installs

≈650 estimated

21.5K

Total downloads

since 2014

4.21★

Rating (adjusted)

4.5★ raw · 11 reviews

+65%

132

Downloads · 30d

category median +16%

High removal-risk signals

63/100

Maintenance and integrity signals that tend to precede a WordPress.org removal. Not an official status, a heads-up to act.

  • Long abandoned. No update in 11+ years — the top precursor to removal once a vulnerability is found.
  • Compatibility drift. Tested only up to WordPress 4.1.42, well behind 6.8.

Directory ranking optimization

How it's scored →

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

38 / 100

Under-optimized

Biggest win: Update recency

Update recency 0/100
WP compatibility 4/100
Rating quality 65/100
Listing tuning 92/100

To rank higher: Last updated 4230 days ago — ship an update; wp.org decays a listing's search weight after ~180 days.

Get the full rank-higher report →

Daily downloads

Since 2022-10-05 · 1,425 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive

+65% vs prior 30d
11Downloads · Aug 26

30-day downloads

Rolling 30-day volume · peaks are release surges

132

now · peak 182

12730d downloads · Aug 26

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

Category Featured Im · #8331 you SEO Auto Linker · #3977 WP Image Borders · #4895 Post Duplicator · #221

Rating trend

Star average over time · dips mark rough releases

4.5Stars · Aug 26

Update activity

How busy the existing users are, measured as downloads in the last 30 days for every 1,000 active sites. A spike means a new release everyone's pulling; a long, slow decline means an aging user base that updates less.

212per 1k installs · Aug 26

Release cadence

No release in a year
from wp.org release tags

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

0

releases in the last 12 months

11.7y ago

latest release · v1.1.2

2

tagged releases on record

Recent releases

1.1.2 · 11.7y ago1.1.0 · 11.9y ago

What its installed base runs

via wordpress.org

Share of active installs on each version of this plugin · 100% run the current release. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.

v1.1 100%

Estimated active installs

The public count shows “600+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.

tracked estimate
600–700 ≈650

Refined from the date this plugin crossed into its current band.

Install history · since 2015-09-06 · 1,426 observations

600Installs · Aug 26

Estimated value

What this plugin might earn a year, and what it might sell for. Modeled from public signals; we don't see anyone's books.

Est. annual revenue

N/A

Est. acquisition value

N/A

No paid tier is visible, so we don't put a figure on revenue or sale value: that would be guessing. The install base is a real asset to an acquirer, just not one public data lets us price. A small install base leaves thin data to model from.

Ratings · 11 reviews

Read on wp.org ↗
5★
9 4★
1 3★
0 2★
0 1★
1

Details

Version
1.1.8
Last updated
11.6y ago
Added
2014-04-25 · 12 yrs old
Requires WP
3.5.0
Tested up to
4.1.42
Requires PHP
—
Changelog ↗Support forum ↗Reviews ↗Advanced stats ↗

Recent reviews

All reviews on wp.org ↗
  1. ★★★★★ prantikv
    8.8y ago

    The plugin works. But the “last updated” date is more that 2 years ago. Which was preventing me from using this plugin. The developer needs to push an update.

    Read on wp.org ↗
  2. ★★★★★ pecktron2000
    10.3y ago

    I love this plugin. It saves time and adds a layer of flexibility to WordPress. Now a user can select a default image for categories without having to edit any code. As a developer, I don’t want the user to have to edit code so this is a great feature. Thank You! Not sure if this plugin is still being updated or if it was abandoned> I hope it is still alive 🙂

    Read on wp.org ↗
  3. ★★★★★ sharaf3983
    10.7y ago

    how i can get a specific category image??? using php

    Read on wp.org ↗
  4. ★★★★★ pandammonium
    10.9y ago

    This plugin does one thing and it does it well. It’s easy to use, too: install, set up the default category images and forget about it.

    Read on wp.org ↗
  5. ★★★★★ Mokhtar-Taha
    11.0y ago

    Very nice plugin, Category Featured Images

    Read on wp.org ↗
  6. ★★★★★ hassanbhatti
    11.3y ago

    Its really great plugin easy to use and support are awesome too

    Read on wp.org ↗
  7. ★★★★★ Thamaraiselvam
    11.5y ago

    I cannot add featured image for custom categories.

    Read on wp.org ↗
  8. ★★★★★ Anonymous User
    11.7y ago

    hai the plugin works completly great.is there any Option To make This work for Custom taxonomies Thanks for nice plugin

    Read on wp.org ↗

Known vulnerabilities

via Wordfence Intelligence

1 disclosed vulnerability on record for this plugin, 1 still affects the current version.

  1. Medium · 6.4 Category Featured Images <= 1.1.8 - Authenticated (Author+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting ↗
    2025-09-22 CVE-2025-58655 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') Affects <= 1.1.8 No patch available

Vulnerability records provided by Wordfence Intelligence. Copyright 2012-2026 Defiant Inc. License and terms.

CVE records: Copyright 1999-2026 The MITRE Corporation. CVE terms of use.

Behavioral tests

via WP Hive

Automated install-time checks, tested on PHP 7.2.16 · WP 5.3

✓ Low memory footprint
✓ Low page-speed impact
✓ Runs on latest PHP + WP
✓ No PHP errors
✓ No JS errors
✓ Activates cleanly
✓ No resource errors
✓ No external HTTP errors
✓ Optimized database use
✕ Frequently updated

Growth timeline

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

  1. 2026-06-26 700+ → 600+ down after 125 days in tier
  2. 2026-02-21 800+ → 700+ down after 3 days in tier
  3. 2026-02-18 700+ → 800+ up after 1 days in tier
  4. 2026-02-17 800+ → 700+ down after 1 days in tier
  5. 2026-02-16 700+ → 800+ up after 4 days in tier
  6. 2026-02-12 800+ → 700+ down after 200 days in tier
  7. 2025-07-27 900+ → 800+ down after 224 days in tier
  8. 2024-12-15 1K+ → 900+ 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).

Compare head to head →

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Preview card ↗

Category Featured Images: 600+ active installs, 4.5★ (11 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-08-29. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/category-featured-images