Child Themes
by Chris Taylor · Uncategorized
Create a child theme really easily from any installed theme.
42 health vs 56 average across 12,117 Uncategorized 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 8+ years — the top precursor to removal once a vulnerability is found.
- Compatibility drift. Tested only up to WordPress 4.8.28, 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 3180 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 · 1,381 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peaks are release surges
59
now · peak 161
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
Downloads per 1k installs · 30d
Engagement proxy · release spikes are signal, a long slide is an aging base
Estimated active installs
wp.org reports only “70+”. The real number sits in this band.
Refined from the date this plugin crossed into its current band.
Install history · since 2022-10-04 · 1,378 observations
Details
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2026-04-24 80+ → 70+ down after 153 days in tier
- 2025-11-22 90+ → 80+ down after 198 days in tier
- 2025-05-08 100+ → 90+ down after 3 days in tier
- 2025-05-05 90+ → 100+ up after 3 days in tier
- 2025-05-02 100+ → 90+ down
Competes with
The plugins that solve the same job, ranked by shared tags then reach — closest match first
- C Child Themify 7K+ installs · 4.1★ · 3 shared tags D
-
Child Theme Configurator 300K+ installs · 4.7★ · 2 shared tags B -
Create Block Theme 20K+ installs · 4.5★ · 2 shared tags A -
Multiple Themes 10K+ installs · 4.5★ · 2 shared tags C -
Theme Test Drive 7K+ installs · 3.9★ · 2 shared tags D -
WP Theme Test 7K+ installs · 4.0★ · 2 shared tags D
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<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/child-themes" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Child Themes — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> Child Themes: 70+ active installs, 2.5★ (2 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-07-17. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/child-themes