Category Search
by Vladimir Prelovac · Search
Also makes 14 other plugins · 28.5K+ installs across the portfolio →
Category Search adds the option to display category names in search results. Useful when you have a lot of categories.
41 health vs 60 average across 606 Search plugins
High removal-risk signals
63/100Maintenance 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 4.2.39, 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.
Under-optimized
Biggest win: Update recency
To rank higher: Last updated 4270 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 · 1,426 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peaks are release surges
51
now · peak 78
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
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.
What its installed base runs
via wordpress.orgShare 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.
Estimated active installs
The public count shows “30+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Refined from the date this plugin crossed into its current band.
Install history · since 2022-10-04 · 1,374 observations
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
Est. acquisition value
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. The recent download trend is too spiky to read.
Details
Behavioral tests
via WP HiveAutomated install-time checks, tested on PHP 7.2.16 · WP 5.3.2
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2025-06-09 40+ → 30+ down after 11 days in tier
- 2025-05-29 30+ → 40+ up after 21 days in tier
- 2025-05-08 40+ → 30+ down after 86 days in tier
- 2025-02-11 30+ → 40+ up after 7 days in tier
- 2025-02-04 40+ → 30+ down after 186 days in tier
- 2024-08-02 30+ → 40+ up after 14 days in tier
- 2024-07-19 40+ → 30+ down after 10 days in tier
- 2024-07-09 30+ → 40+ up after 78 days in tier
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).
-
Search & Filter 50K+ installs · 4.5★ · 2 shared tags A -
Tag, Category, and Taxonomy Manager – Autotagger Automatically Add Terms 40K+ installs · 4.5★ · 2 shared tags A -
Category Posts Block 40K+ installs · 4.4★ · 2 shared tags A -
Media Library Categories 20K+ installs · 4.2★ · 2 shared tags A - R Recent Posts by Category Widget 4K+ installs · 4.3★ · 2 shared tags D
- C Custom Recent Posts Widget 1K+ installs · 4.3★ · 2 shared tags D
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for Category Search into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/category-search" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Category Search — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> Category Search: 30+ active installs, 0.0★ (0 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-08-31. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/category-search